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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last of the Peterkins, by Lucretia P. Hale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Last of the Peterkins
+       With Others of Their Kin
+
+Author: Lucretia P. Hale
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2005 [EBook #15546]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS,
+
+                       With Others of their kin.
+
+                          BY LUCRETIA P. HALE.
+
+
+
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                BOSTON:
+                       LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
+                                 1906.
+
+
+                           _Copyright, 1886_,
+                          BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.
+                               Printers
+                   S.J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+                                  TO
+
+                      THE LADY FROM PHILADELPHIA,
+
+                    BELOVED BY THE PETERKIN FAMILY,
+
+                        This Book is Dedicated.
+
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The following Papers contain the last records of the Peterkin Family,
+who unhappily ventured to leave their native land and have never
+returned. Elizabeth Eliza's Commonplace Book has been found among the
+family papers, and will be published here for the first time. It is
+evident that she foresaw that the family were ill able to contend with
+the commonplace struggle of life; and we may not wonder that they could
+not survive the unprecedented, far away from the genial advice of
+friends, especially that of the Lady from Philadelphia.
+
+It is feared that Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin lost their lives after leaving
+Tobolsk, perhaps in some vast conflagration.
+
+Agamemnon and Solomon John were probably sacrificed in some effort to
+join in or control the disturbances which arose in the distant places
+where they had established themselves,--Agamemnon in Madagascar, Solomon
+John in Rustchuk.
+
+The little boys have merged into men in some German university, while
+Elizabeth Eliza must have been lost in the mazes of the Russian language.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+The Last of the Peterkins.
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I. ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER
+
+    II. ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK
+
+   III. THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING
+
+    IV. THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR
+
+     V. THE PETERKINS "AT HOME"
+
+    VI. MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT
+
+   VII. MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID
+
+  VIII. THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS
+
+
+Others of their Kin.
+
+
+    IX. LUCILLA'S DIARY
+
+     X. JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK
+
+    XI. CARRIE'S THREE WISHES
+
+   XII. "WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"
+
+  XIII. A PLACE FOR OSCAR
+
+   XIV. THE FIRST NEEDLE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER.
+
+
+Elizabeth Eliza joined the Circumambient Club with the idea that it
+would be a long time before she, a new member, would have to read a
+paper. She would have time to hear the other papers read, and to see how
+it was done; and she would find it easy when her turn came. By that time
+she would have some ideas; and long before she would be called upon,
+she would have leisure to sit down and write out something. But a year
+passed away, and the time was drawing near. She had, meanwhile, devoted
+herself to her studies, and had tried to inform herself on all subjects
+by way of preparation. She had consulted one of the old members of the
+Club as to the choice of a subject.
+
+"Oh, write about anything," was the answer,--"anything you have been
+thinking of."
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was forced to say she had not been thinking lately. She
+had not had time. The family had moved, and there was always an
+excitement about something, that prevented her sitting down to think.
+
+"Why not write out your family adventures?" asked the old member.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was sure her mother would think it made them too public;
+and most of the Club papers, she observed, had some thought in them. She
+preferred to find an idea.
+
+[Illustration: Elizabeth Eliza writes a paper.]
+
+So she set herself to the occupation of thinking. She went out on
+the piazza to think; she stayed in the house to think. She tried a
+corner of the china-closet. She tried thinking in the cars, and lost her
+pocket-book; she tried it in the garden, and walked into the strawberry
+bed. In the house and out of the house, it seemed to be the same,--she
+could not think of anything to think of. For many weeks she was seen
+sitting on the sofa or in the window, and nobody disturbed her. "She is
+thinking about her paper," the family would say, but she only knew that
+she could not think of anything.
+
+Agamemnon told her that many writers waited till the last moment, when
+inspiration came which was much finer than anything studied. Elizabeth
+Eliza thought it would be terrible to wait till the last moment, if the
+inspiration should not come! She might combine the two ways,--wait till
+a few days before the last, and then sit down and write anyhow. This
+would give a chance for inspiration, while she would not run the risk
+of writing nothing.
+
+She was much discouraged. Perhaps she had better give it up? But, no;
+everybody wrote a paper: if not now, she would have to do it sometime!
+
+And at last the idea of a subject came to her! But it was as hard to
+find a moment to write as to think. The morning was noisy, till the
+little boys had gone to school; for they had begun again upon their
+regular course, with the plan of taking up the study of cider in
+October. And after the little boys had gone to school, now it was one
+thing, now it was another,--the china-closet to be cleaned, or one of
+the neighbors in to look at the sewing-machine. She tried after dinner,
+but would fall asleep. She felt that evening would be the true time,
+after the cares of day were over.
+
+The Peterkins had wire mosquito-nets all over the house,--at every door
+and every window. They were as eager to keep out the flies as the
+mosquitoes. The doors were all furnished with strong springs, that
+pulled the doors to as soon as they were opened. The little boys had
+practised running in and out of each door, and slamming it after them.
+This made a good deal of noise, for they had gained great success in
+making one door slam directly after another, and at times would keep up
+a running volley of artillery, as they called it, with the slamming of
+the doors. Mr. Peterkin, however, preferred it to flies.
+
+So Elizabeth Eliza felt she would venture to write of a summer evening
+with all the windows open.
+
+She seated herself one evening in the library, between two large
+kerosene lamps, with paper, pen, and ink before her. It was a beautiful
+night, with the smell of the roses coming in through the mosquito-nets,
+and just the faintest odor of kerosene by her side. She began upon her
+work. But what was her dismay! She found herself immediately surrounded
+with mosquitoes. They attacked her at every point. They fell upon her
+hand as she moved it to the inkstand; they hovered, buzzing, over her
+head; they planted themselves under the lace of her sleeve. If she moved
+her left hand to frighten them off from one point, another band fixed
+themselves upon her right hand. Not only did they flutter and sting, but
+they sang in a heathenish manner, distracting her attention as she tried
+to write, as she tried to waft them off. Nor was this all. Myriads of
+June-bugs and millers hovered round, flung themselves into the lamps,
+and made disagreeable funeral-pyres of themselves, tumbling noisily on
+her paper in their last unpleasant agonies. Occasionally one darted with
+a rush toward Elizabeth Eliza's head.
+
+If there was anything Elizabeth Eliza had a terror of, it was a
+June-bug. She had heard that they had a tendency to get into the hair.
+One had been caught in the hair of a friend of hers, who had long
+luxuriant hair. But the legs of the June-bug were caught in it like
+fish-hooks, and it had to be cut out, and the June-bug was only
+extricated by sacrificing large masses of the flowing locks.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza flung her handkerchief over her head. Could she
+sacrifice what hair she had to the claims of literature? She gave a cry
+of dismay.
+
+The little boys rushed in a moment to the rescue. They flapped
+newspapers, flung sofa-cushions; they offered to stand by her side
+with fly-whisks, that she might be free to write. But the struggle
+was too exciting for her, and the flying insects seemed to increase.
+Moths of every description--large brown moths, small, delicate white
+millers--whirled about her, while the irritating hum of the mosquito
+kept on more than ever. Mr. Peterkin and the rest of the family came in
+to inquire about the trouble. It was discovered that each of the little
+boys had been standing in the opening of a wire door for some time,
+watching to see when Elizabeth Eliza would have made her preparations
+and would begin to write. Countless numbers of dorbugs and winged
+creatures of every description had taken occasion to come in. It was
+found that they were in every part of the house.
+
+"We might open all the blinds and screens," suggested Agamemnon, "and
+make a vigorous onslaught and drive them all out at once."
+
+"I do believe there are more inside than out now," said Solomon John.
+
+"The wire nets, of course," said Agamemnon, "keep them in now."
+
+"We might go outside," proposed Solomon John, "and drive in all that are
+left. Then to-morrow morning, when they are all torpid, kill them and
+make collections of them."
+
+Agamemnon had a tent which he had provided in case he should ever go to
+the Adirondacks, and he proposed using it for the night. The little boys
+were wild for this.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin thought she and Elizabeth Eliza would prefer trying to
+sleep in the house. But perhaps Elizabeth Eliza would go on with her
+paper with more comfort out of doors.
+
+A student's lamp was carried out, and she was established on the steps
+of the back piazza, while screens were all carefully closed to prevent
+the mosquitoes and insects from flying out. But it was of no use. There
+were outside still swarms of winged creatures that plunged themselves
+about her, and she had not been there long before a huge miller flung
+himself into the lamp and put it out. She gave up for the evening.
+
+Still the paper went on. "How fortunate," exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza,
+"that I did not put it off till the last evening!" Having once begun,
+she persevered in it at every odd moment of the day. Agamemnon presented
+her with a volume of "Synonymes," which was of great service to her. She
+read her paper, in its various stages, to Agamemnon first, for his
+criticism, then to her father in the library, then to Mr. and Mrs.
+Peterkin together, next to Solomon John, and afterward to the whole
+family assembled. She was almost glad that the lady from Philadelphia
+was not in town, as she wished it to be her own unaided production. She
+declined all invitations for the week before the night of the club, and
+on the very day she kept her room with _eau sucrée_, that she might
+save her voice. Solomon John provided her with Brown's Bronchial Troches
+when the evening came, and Mrs. Peterkin advised a handkerchief over her
+head, in case of June-bugs. It was, however, a cool night. Agamemnon
+escorted her to the house.
+
+The Club met at Ann Maria Bromwick's. No gentlemen were admitted to the
+regular meetings. There were what Solomon John called "occasional annual
+meetings," to which they were invited, when all the choicest papers of
+the year were re-read.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was placed at the head of the room, at a small table,
+with a brilliant gas-jet on one side. It was so cool the windows could
+be closed. Mrs. Peterkin, as a guest, sat in the front row.
+
+This was her paper, as Elizabeth Eliza read it, for she frequently
+inserted fresh expressions:--
+
+
+THE SUN.
+
+It is impossible that much can be known about it. This is why we
+have taken it up as a subject. We mean the sun that lights us by
+day and leaves us by night. In the first place, it is so far off.
+No measuring-tapes could reach it; and both the earth and the sun are
+moving about so, that it would be difficult to adjust ladders to reach
+it, if we could. Of course, people have written about it, and there are
+those who have told us how many miles off it is. But it is a very large
+number, with a great many figures in it; and though it is taught in most
+if not all of our public schools, it is a chance if any one of the
+scholars remembers exactly how much it is.
+
+It is the same with its size. We cannot, as we have said, reach it
+by ladders to measure it; and if we did reach it, we should have no
+measuring-tapes large enough, and those that shut up with springs are
+difficult to use in a high place. We are told, it is true, in a great
+many of the school-books, the size of the sun; but, again, very few of
+those who have learned the number have been able to remember it after
+they have recited it, even if they remembered it then. And almost all of
+the scholars have lost their school-books, or have neglected to carry
+them home, and so they are not able to refer to them,--I mean, after
+leaving school. I must say that is the case with me, I should say with
+us, though it was different. The older ones gave their school-books to
+the younger ones, who took them back to school to lose them, or who have
+destroyed them when there were no younger ones to go to school. I should
+say there are such families. What I mean is, the fact that in some
+families there are no younger children to take off the school-books. But
+even then they are put away on upper shelves, in closets or in attics,
+and seldom found if wanted,--if then, dusty.
+
+Of course, we all know of a class of persons called astronomers, who
+might be able to give us information on the subject in hand, and who
+probably do furnish what information is found in school-books. It should
+be observed, however, that these astronomers carry on their observations
+always in the night. Now, it is well known that the sun does not shine
+in the night. Indeed, that is one of the peculiarities of the night,
+that there is no sun to light us, so we have to go to bed as long as
+there is nothing else we can do without its light, unless we use lamps,
+gas, or kerosene, which is very well for the evening, but would be
+expensive all night long; the same with candles. How, then, can we
+depend upon their statements, if not made from their own observation?--I
+mean, if they never saw the sun?
+
+We cannot expect that astronomers should give us any valuable
+information with regard to the sun, which they never see, their
+occupation compelling them to be up at night. It is quite likely that
+they never see it; for we should not expect them to sit up all day as
+well as all night, as, under such circumstances, their lives would not
+last long.
+
+Indeed, we are told that their name is taken from the word _aster_,
+which means "star;" the word is "aster--know--more." This, doubtless,
+means that they know more about the stars than other things. We see,
+therefore, that their knowledge is confined to the stars, and we cannot
+trust what they have to tell us of the sun.
+
+There are other asters which should not be mixed up with these,--we mean
+those growing by the wayside in the fall of the year. The astronomers,
+from their nocturnal habits, can scarcely be acquainted with them; but
+as it does not come within our province, we will not inquire.
+
+We are left, then, to seek our own information about the sun. But we
+are met with a difficulty. To know a thing, we must look at it. How can
+we look at the sun? It is so very bright that our eyes are dazzled in
+gazing upon it. We have to turn away, or they would be put out,--the
+sight, I mean. It is true, we might use smoked glass, but that is apt to
+come off on the nose. How, then, if we cannot look at it, can we find
+out about it? The noonday would seem to be the better hour, when it is
+the sunniest; but, besides injuring the eyes, it is painful to the neck
+to look up for a long time. It is easy to say that our examination of
+this heavenly body should take place at sunrise, when we could look at
+it more on a level, without having to endanger the spine. But how many
+people are up at sunrise? Those who get up early do it because they are
+compelled to, and have something else to do than look at the sun.
+
+The milkman goes forth to carry the daily milk, the ice-man to leave
+the daily ice. But either of these would be afraid of exposing their
+vehicles to the heating orb of day,--the milkman afraid of turning the
+milk, the ice-man timorous of melting his ice,--and they probably avoid
+those directions where they shall meet the sun's rays. The student, who
+might inform us, has been burning the midnight oil. The student is not
+in the mood to consider the early sun.
+
+There remains to us the evening, also,--the leisure hour of the day.
+But, alas! our houses are not built with an adaptation to this subject.
+They are seldom made to look toward the sunset. A careful inquiry and
+close observation, such as have been called for in preparation of this
+paper, have developed the fact that not a single house in this town
+faces the sunset! There may be windows looking that way, but in such a
+case there is always a barn between. I can testify to this from personal
+observations, because, with my brothers, we have walked through the
+several streets of this town with notebooks, carefully noting every
+house looking upon the sunset, and have found none from which the sunset
+could be studied. Sometimes it was the next house, sometimes a row of
+houses, or its own wood-house, that stood in the way.
+
+Of course, a study of the sun might be pursued out of doors. But in
+summer, sunstroke would be likely to follow; in winter, neuralgia and
+cold. And how could you consult your books, your dictionaries, your
+encyclopædias? There seems to be no hour of the day for studying the
+sun. You might go to the East to see it at its rising, or to the West
+to gaze upon its setting, but--you don't.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here Elizabeth Eliza came to a pause. She had written five different
+endings, and had brought them all, thinking, when the moment came,
+she would choose one of them. She was pausing to select one, and
+inadvertently said, to close the phrase, "you don't." She had not meant
+to use the expression, which she would not have thought sufficiently
+imposing,--it dropped out unconsciously,--but it was received as a close
+with rapturous applause.
+
+She had read slowly, and now that the audience applauded at such a
+length, she had time to feel she was much exhausted and glad of an end.
+Why not stop there, though there were some pages more? Applause, too,
+was heard from the outside. Some of the gentlemen had come,--Mr.
+Peterkin, Agamemnon, and Solomon John, with others,--and demanded
+admission.
+
+"Since it is all over, let them in," said Ann Maria Bromwick.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza assented, and rose to shake hands with her applauding
+friends.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK.
+
+
+I am going to jot down, from time to time, any suggestions that occur
+to me that will be of use in writing another paper, in case I am called
+upon. I might be asked unexpectedly for certain occasions, if anybody
+happened to be prevented from coming to a meeting.
+
+I have not yet thought of a subject, but I think that is not of as much
+consequence as to gather the ideas. It seems as if the ideas might
+suggest the subject, even if the subject does not suggest the ideas.
+
+Now, often a thought occurs to me in the midst, perhaps, of conversation
+with others; but I forget it afterwards, and spend a great deal of time
+in trying to think what it was I was thinking of, which might have been
+very valuable.
+
+I have indeed, of late, been in the habit of writing such thoughts on
+scraps of paper, and have often left the table to record some idea that
+occurred to me; but, looking up the paper and getting ready to write it,
+the thought has escaped me.
+
+Then again, when I have written it, it has been on the backs of
+envelopes or the off sheet of a note, and it has been lost, perhaps
+thrown into the scrap-basket. Amanda is a little careless about such
+things; and, indeed, I have before encouraged her in throwing away old
+envelopes, which do not seem of much use otherwise, so perhaps she is
+not to blame.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The more I think of it, the more does it seem to me there would be an
+advantage if everybody should have the same number to their houses,--of
+course not everybody, but everybody acquainted. It is so hard to
+remember all the numbers; the streets you are not so likely to forget.
+Friends might combine to have the same number. What made me think of it
+was that we do have the same number as the Easterlys. To be sure, we are
+out of town, and they are in Boston; but it makes it so convenient, when
+I go into town to see the Easterlys, to remember that their number is
+the same as ours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Agamemnon has lost his new silk umbrella. Yet the case was marked with
+his name in full, and the street address and the town. Of course he left
+the case at home, going out in the rain. He might have carried it with
+the address in his pocket, yet this would not have helped after losing
+the umbrella. Why not have a pocket for the case in the umbrella?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In shaking the dust from a dress, walk slowly backwards. This prevents
+the dust from falling directly on the dress again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On Carving Duck.--It is singular that I can never get so much off the
+breast as other people do.
+
+Perhaps I have it set on wrong side up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I wonder why they never have catalogues for libraries arranged from the
+last letter of the name instead of the first.
+
+There is our Italian teacher whose name ends with a "j," which I should
+remember much easier than the first letter, being so odd.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I cannot understand why a man should want to marry his wife's deceased
+sister. If she is dead, indeed, how can he? And if he has a wife, how
+wrong! I am very glad there is a law against it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is well, in prosperity, to be brought up as though you were living in
+adversity; then, if you have to go back to adversity, it is all the
+same.
+
+On the other hand, it might be as well, in adversity, to act as though
+you were living in prosperity; otherwise, you would seem to lose the
+prosperity either way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Solomon John has invented a new extinguisher. It is to represent a Turk
+smoking a pipe, which is to be hollow, and lets the smoke out. A very
+pretty idea!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A bee came stumbling into my room this morning, as it has done every
+spring since we moved here,--perhaps not the same bee. I think there
+must have been a family bee-line across this place before ever a house
+was built here, and the bees are trying for it every year.
+
+Perhaps we ought to cut a window opposite.
+
+There's room enough in the world for me and thee; go thou and trouble
+some one else,--as the man said when he put the fly out of the window.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ann Maria thinks it would be better to fix upon a subject first; but
+then she has never yet written a paper herself, so she does not realize
+that you have to have some thoughts before you can write them. She
+should think, she says, that I would write about something that I see.
+But of what use is it for me to write about what everybody is seeing,
+as long as they can see it as well as I do?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The paper about emergencies read last week was one of the best I ever
+heard; but, of course, it would not be worth while for me to write the
+same, even if I knew enough.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My commonplace-book ought to show me what to do for common things; and
+then I can go to lectures, or read the "Rules of Emergencies" for the
+uncommon ones.
+
+Because, as a family, I think we are more troubled about what to do
+on the common occasions than on the unusual ones. Perhaps because the
+unusual things don't happen to us, or very seldom; and for the uncommon
+things, there is generally some one you can ask.
+
+I suppose there really is not as much danger about these uncommon things
+as there is in the small things, because they don't happen so often, and
+because you are more afraid of them.
+
+I never saw it counted up, but I conclude that more children tumble into
+mud-puddles than into the ocean or Niagara Falls, for instance. It was
+so, at least, with our little boys; but that may have been partly
+because they never saw the ocean till last summer, and have never been
+to Niagara. To be sure, they had seen the harbor from the top of Bunker
+Hill Monument, but there they could not fall in. They might have fallen
+off from the top of the monument, but did not. I am sure, for our little
+boys, they have never had the remarkable things happen to them. I
+suppose because they were so dangerous that they did not try them, like
+firing at marks and rowing boats. If they had used guns, they might
+have shot themselves or others; but guns have never been allowed in the
+house. My father thinks it is dangerous to have them. They might go
+off unexpected. They would require us to have gunpowder and shot in the
+house, which would be dangerous. Amanda, too, is a little careless.
+And we never shall forget the terrible time when the "fulminating paste"
+went off one Fourth of July. It showed what might happen even if you did
+not keep gunpowder in the house.
+
+To be sure, Agamemnon and Solomon John are older now, and might learn
+the use of fire-arms; but even then they might shoot the wrong
+person--the policeman or some friends coming into the house--instead of
+the burglar.
+
+And I have read of safe burglars going about. I don't know whether it
+means that it is safe for them or for us; I hope it is the latter.
+Perhaps it means that they go without fire-arms, making it safer for
+them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have the "Printed Rules for Emergencies," which will be of great use,
+as I should be apt to forget which to do for which. I mean I should be
+quite likely to do for burns and scalds what I ought to do for cramp.
+And when a person is choking, I might sponge from head to foot, which
+is what I ought to do to prevent a cold.
+
+But I hope I shall not have a chance to practise. We have never had the
+case of a broken leg, and it would hardly be worth while to break one on
+purpose.
+
+Then we have had no cases of taking poison, or bites from mad dogs,
+perhaps partly because we don't keep either poison or dogs; but then our
+neighbors might, and we ought to be prepared. We do keep cats, so that
+we do not need to have poison for the rats; and in this way we avoid
+both dangers,--from the dogs going mad, and from eating the poison by
+mistake instead of the rats.
+
+To be sure, we don't quite get rid of the rats, and need a trap for the
+mice; but if you have a good family cat it is safer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About window-curtains--I mean the drapery ones--we have the same trouble
+in deciding every year. We did not put any in the parlor windows when we
+moved, only window-shades, because there were so many things to be done,
+and we wanted time to make up our minds as to what we would have.
+
+But that was years ago, and we have not decided yet, though we consider
+the subject every spring and fall.
+
+The trouble is, if we should have heavy damask ones like the Bromwicks',
+it would be very dark in the winter, on account of the new, high
+building opposite.
+
+Now, we like as much light as we can get in the winter, so we have
+always waited till summer, thinking we would have some light muslin
+ones, or else of the new laces. But in summer we like to have the room
+dark, and the sun does get round in the morning quite dazzling on the
+white shades. (We might have dark-colored shades, but there would be the
+same trouble of its being too dark in the winter.)
+
+We seem to need the heavy curtains in summer and the light curtains in
+winter, which would look odd. Besides, in winter we do need the heavy
+curtains to shut out the draughts, while in summer we like all the air
+we can get.
+
+I have been looking for a material that shall shut out the air and yet
+let in the light, or else shut out the light and let in the air; or else
+let in the light when you want it, and not when you don't. I have not
+found it yet; but there are so many new inventions that I dare say I
+shall come across it in time. They seem to have invented everything
+except a steamer that won't go up and down as well as across.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I never could understand about averages. I can't think why people are so
+fond of taking them,--men generally. It seems to me they tell anything
+but the truth. They try to tell what happens every evening, and they
+don't tell one evening right.
+
+There was our Free Evening Cooking-school. We had a class of fourteen
+girls; and they admired it, and liked nothing better, and attended
+regularly. But Ann Maria made out the report according to the average of
+attendance on the whole number of nights in the ten weeks of the school,
+one evening a week; so she gave the numbers 12-3/5 each night.
+
+Now the fact was, they all came every night except one, when there was
+such a storm, nobody went,--not even the teacher, nor Ann Maria, nor any
+of us. It snowed and it hailed and the wind blew, and our steps were so
+slippery Amanda could not go out to put on ashes; ice even on the upper
+steps. The janitor, who makes the fire, set out to go; but she was blown
+across the street, into the gutter. She did succeed in getting in to Ann
+Maria's, who said it was foolish to attempt it, and that nobody would
+go; and I am not sure but she spent the night there,--at Ann Maria's, I
+mean. Still, Ann Maria had to make up the account of the number of
+evenings of the whole course.
+
+But it looks, in the report, as though there were never the whole
+fourteen there, and as though 1-2/5 of a girl stayed away every night,
+when the facts are we did not have a single absence, and the whole
+fourteen were there every night, except the night there was no school;
+and I have been told they all had on their things to come that night,
+but their mothers would not let them,--those that had mothers,--and they
+would have been blown away if they had come.
+
+It seems to me the report does not present the case right, on account of
+the averages.
+
+I think it is indeed the common things that trouble one to decide about,
+as I have said, since for the remarkable ones one can have advice. The
+way we do on such occasions is to ask our friends, especially the lady
+from Philadelphia.
+
+Whatever we should have done without her, I am sure I cannot tell, for
+her advice is always inestimable. To be sure, she is not always here;
+but there is the daily mail (twice from here to Boston), and the
+telegraph, and to some places the telephone.
+
+But for some common things there is not time for even the telephone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Yesterday morning, for instance, going into Boston in the early train,
+I took the right side for a seat, as is natural, though I noticed that
+most of the passengers were crowding into the seats on the other side.
+I found, as we left the station, that I was on the sunny side, which was
+very uncomfortable. So I made up my mind to change sides, coming out.
+But, unexpectedly, I stayed in till afternoon at Mrs. Easterly's. It
+seems she had sent a note to ask me (which I found at night all right,
+when I got home), as Mr. Easterly was away. So I did not go out till
+afternoon. I did remember my determination to change sides in going out,
+and as I took the right going in, not to take the right going out. But
+then I remembered, as it was afternoon, the sun would have changed; so
+if the right side was wrong in the morning, it would be right in the
+afternoon. At any rate, it would be safe to take the other side. I did
+observe that most of the people took the opposite side, the left side;
+but I supposed they had not stopped to calculate.
+
+When we came out of the station and from under the bridges, I found I
+was sitting in the sun again, the same way as in the morning, in spite
+of all my reasoning. Ann Maria, who had come late and taken the last
+seat on the other side, turned round and called across to me, "Why do
+you always take the sunny side? Do you prefer it?" I was sorry not to
+explain it to her, but she was too far off.
+
+It might be safe to do what most of the other people do, when you cannot
+stop to inquire; but you cannot always tell, since very likely they may
+be mistaken. And then if they have taken all the seats, there is not
+room left for you. Still, this time, in coming out, I had reached the
+train in plenty of season, and might have picked out my seat, but then
+there was nobody there to show where most of the people would go. I
+might have changed when I saw where most would go; but I hate changing,
+and the best seats were all taken.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My father thinks it would be a good plan for Amanda to go to the
+Lectures on Physics. She has lived with us a great many years, and she
+still breaks as many things as she did at the beginning.
+
+Dr. Murtrie, who was here the other night, said he learned when quite a
+boy, from some book on Physics, that if he placed some cold water in the
+bottom of a pitcher, before pouring in boiling-hot water, it would not
+break. Also, that in washing a glass or china pitcher in very hot water,
+the outside and inside should be in the hot water, or, as he said,
+should feel the hot water at the same time. I don't quite understand
+exactly how, unless the pitcher has a large mouth, when it might be put
+in sideways.
+
+He told the reasons, which, being scientific, I cannot remember or
+understand.
+
+If Amanda had known about this, she might have saved a great deal of
+valuable glass and china. Though it has not always been from hot water,
+the breaking, for I often think she has not the water hot enough; but
+often from a whole tray-full sliding out of her hand, as she was coming
+up-stairs, and everything on it broke.
+
+But Dr. Murtrie said if she had learned more of the Laws of Physics she
+would not probably so often tip over the waiter.
+
+The trouble is, however, remembering at the right time. She might have
+known the law perfectly well, and forgotten it just on the moment, or
+her dress coming in the way may have prevented.
+
+Still, I should like very well myself to go to the Lectures on Physics.
+Perhaps I could find out something about scissors,--why it is they do
+always tumble down, and usually, though so heavy, without any noise, so
+that you do not know that they have fallen. I should say they had no
+law, because sometimes they are far under the sofa in one direction, or
+hidden behind the leg of the table in another, or perhaps not even on
+the floor, but buried in the groove at the back of the easy-chair, and
+you never find them till you have the chair covered again. I do feel
+always in the back of the chair now; but Amanda found mine, yesterday,
+in the groove of the sofa.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is possible Elizabeth Eliza may have taken the remaining sheets of
+her commonplace-book abroad with her. We have not been able to recover
+them.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING.
+
+
+Long ago Mrs. Peterkin had been afraid of the Mohammedans, and would
+have dreaded to travel among them; but since the little boys had taken
+lessons of the Turk, and she had become familiar with his costume and
+method of sitting, she had felt less fear of them as a nation.
+
+To be sure, the Turk had given but few lessons, as, soon after making
+his engagement, he had been obliged to go to New York to join a
+tobacconist's firm. Mr. Peterkin had not regretted his payment for
+instruction in advance; for the Turk had been very urbane in his
+manners, and had always assented to whatever the little boys or any of
+the family had said to him.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin had expressed a desire to see the famous Cleopatra's
+Needle which had been brought from Egypt. She had heard it was something
+gigantic for a needle, and it would be worth a journey to New York. She
+wondered at their bringing it such a distance, and would have supposed
+that some of Cleopatra's family would have objected to it if they were
+living now.
+
+Agamemnon said that was the truth; there was no one left to object; they
+were all mummies under ground, with such heavy pyramids over them that
+they would not easily rise to object.
+
+Mr. Peterkin feared that all the pyramids would be brought away in time.
+Agamemnon said there were a great many remaining in Egypt. Still, he
+thought it would be well to visit Egypt soon, before they were all
+brought away, and nothing but the sand left. Mrs. Peterkin said she
+would be almost as willing to travel to Egypt as to New York, and it
+would seem more worth while to go so far to see a great many than to go
+to New York only for one needle.
+
+"That would certainly be a needless expense," suggested Solomon John.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to see the Sphinx. Perhaps it would answer
+some of the family questions that troubled them day after day.
+
+Agamemnon felt it would be a great thing for the education of the little
+boys. If they could have begun with the Egyptian hieroglyphics before
+they had learned their alphabet, they would have begun at the right end.
+Perhaps it was not too late now to take them to Egypt, and let them
+begin upon its old learning. The little boys declared it was none too
+late. They could not say the alphabet backward now, and could never
+remember whether _u_ came before _v_; and the voyage would be
+a long one, and before they reached Egypt, very likely they would have
+forgotten all.
+
+It was about this voyage that Mrs. Peterkin had much doubt. What she was
+afraid of was getting in and out of the ships and boats. She was afraid
+of tumbling into the water between, when she left the wharf. Elizabeth
+Eliza agreed with her mother in this, and began to calculate how many
+times they would have to change between Boston and Egypt.
+
+There was the ferry-boat across to East Boston would make two changes;
+one more to get on board the steamer; then Liverpool--no, to land at
+Queenstown would make two more,--four, five changes; Liverpool, six.
+Solomon John brought the map, and they counted up. Dover, seven; Calais,
+eight; Marseilles, nine; Malta, if they landed, ten, eleven; and
+Alexandria, twelve changes.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin shuddered at the possibilities, not merely for herself,
+but for the family. She could fall in but once, but by the time they
+should reach Egypt, how many would be left out of a family of eight?
+Agamemnon began to count up the contingencies. Eight times twelve would
+make ninety-six chances (8 × 12 = 96). Mrs. Peterkin felt as if all
+might be swept off before the end could be reached.
+
+Solomon John said it was not usual to allow more than one chance in a
+hundred. People always said "one in a hundred," as though that were the
+usual thing expected. It was not at all likely that the whole family
+would be swept off.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was sure they would not want to lose one; they could
+hardly pick out which they could spare, she felt certain. Agamemnon
+declared there was no necessity for such risks. They might go directly
+by some vessel from Boston to Egypt.
+
+Solomon John thought they might give up Egypt, and content themselves
+with Rome. "All roads lead to Rome;" so it would not be difficult to
+find their way.
+
+But Mrs. Peterkin was afraid to go. She had heard you must do as the
+Romans did if you went to Rome; and there were some things she certainly
+should not like to do that they did. There was that brute who killed
+Cæsar! And she should not object to the long voyage. It would give them
+time to think it all over.
+
+Mr. Peterkin thought they ought to have more practice in travelling, to
+accustom themselves to emergencies. It would be fatal to start on so
+long a voyage and to find they were not prepared. Why not make their
+proposed excursion to the cousins at Gooseberry Beach, which they had
+been planning all summer? There they could practise getting in and out
+of a boat, and accustom themselves to the air of the sea. To be sure,
+the cousins were just moving up from the seashore, but they could take
+down a basket of luncheon, in order to give no trouble, and they need
+not go into the house.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had learned by heart, early in the summer, the list of
+trains, as she was sure they would lose the slip their cousins had sent
+them; and you never could find the paper that had the trains in when you
+wanted it. They must take the 7 A.M. train into Boston in time to go
+across to the station for the Gooseberry train at 7.45, and they would
+have to return from Gooseberry Beach by a 3.30 train. The cousins would
+order the "barge" to meet them on their arrival, and to come for them
+at 3 P.M., in time for the return train, if they were informed the day
+before. Elizabeth Eliza wrote them a postal card, giving them the
+information that they would take the early train. The "barge" was the
+name of the omnibus that took passengers to and from the Gooseberry
+station. Mrs. Peterkin felt that its very name was propitious to this
+Egyptian undertaking.
+
+The day proved a fine one. On reaching Boston, Mrs. Peterkin and
+Elizabeth Eliza were put into a carriage with the luncheon-basket to
+drive directly to the station. Elizabeth Eliza was able to check the
+basket at the baggage-station, and to buy their "go-and-return" tickets
+before the arrival of the rest of the party, which appeared, however,
+some minutes before a quarter of eight. Mrs. Peterkin counted the little
+boys. All were there. This promised well for Egypt. But their joy was of
+short duration. On presenting their tickets at the gate of entrance,
+they were stopped. The Gooseberry train had gone at 7.35! The Mattapan
+train was now awaiting its passengers. Impossible! Elizabeth Eliza
+had repeated 7.45 every morning through the summer. It must be the
+Gooseberry train. But the conductor would not yield. If they wished to
+go to Mattapan they could go; if to Gooseberry, they must wait till the
+5 P.M. train.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was in despair. Their return train was 3.30; how could 5
+P.M. help them?
+
+Mr. Peterkin, with instant decision, proposed they should try something
+else. Why should not they take their luncheon-basket across some ferry?
+This would give them practice. The family hastily agreed to this. What
+could be better? They went to the baggage-office, but found their basket
+had gone in the 7.35 train! They had arrived in time, and could have
+gone too. "If we had only been checked!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. The
+baggage-master, showing a tender interest, suggested that there was a
+train for Plymouth at eight, which would take them within twelve miles
+of Gooseberry Beach, and they might find "a team" there to take them
+across. Solomon John and the little boys were delighted with the
+suggestion.
+
+"We could see Plymouth Rock," said Agamemnon.
+
+But hasty action would be necessary. Mr. Peterkin quickly procured
+tickets for Plymouth, and no official objected to their taking the 8
+A.M. train. They were all safely in the train. This had been a test
+expedition; and each of the party had taken something, to see what would
+be the proportion of things lost to those remembered. Mr. Peterkin had
+two umbrellas, Agamemnon an atlas and spyglass, and the little boys were
+taking down two cats in a basket. All were safe.
+
+"I am glad we have decided upon Plymouth," said Mr. Peterkin. "Before
+seeing the pyramids of Egypt we certainly ought to know something of
+Plymouth Rock. I should certainly be quite ashamed, when looking at
+their great obelisks, to confess that I had never seen our own Rock."
+
+The conductor was attracted by this interesting party. When Mr. Peterkin
+told him of their mistake of the morning, and that they were bound for
+Gooseberry Beach, he advised them to stop at Kingston, a station nearer
+the beach. They would have but four miles to drive, and a reduction
+could be effected on their tickets. The family demurred. Were they ready
+now to give up Plymouth? They would lose time in going there. Solomon
+John, too, suggested it would be better, chronologically, to visit
+Plymouth on their return from Egypt, after they had seen the earliest
+things.
+
+This decided them to stop at Kingston.
+
+But they found here no omnibus nor carriage to take them to Gooseberry.
+The station-master was eager to assist them, and went far and near in
+search of some sort of wagon. Hour after hour passed away, the little
+boys had shared their last peanut, and gloom was gathering over the
+family, when Solomon John came into the station to say there was a
+photographer's cart on the other side of the road. Would not this be a
+good chance to have their photographs taken for their friends before
+leaving for Egypt? The idea reanimated the whole party, and they made
+their way to the cart, and into it, as the door was open. There was,
+however, no photographer there.
+
+Agamemnon tried to remember what he had read of photography. As all the
+materials were there, he might take the family's picture. There would
+indeed be a difficulty in introducing his own. Solomon John suggested
+they might arrange the family group, leaving a place for him. Then, when
+all was ready, he could put the curtain over the box, take his place
+hastily, then pull away the curtain by means of a string. And Solomon
+John began to look around for a string while the little boys felt in
+their pockets.
+
+Agamemnon did not exactly see how they could get the curtain back.
+Mr. Peterkin thought this of little importance. They would all be glad
+to sit some time after travelling so long. And the longer they sat the
+better for the picture, and perhaps somebody would come along in time
+to put back the curtain. They began to arrange the group. Mr. and Mrs.
+Peterkin were placed in the middle, sitting down. Elizabeth Eliza stood
+behind them, and the little boys knelt in front with the basket of cats.
+Solomon John and Agamemnon were also to stand behind, Agamemnon leaning
+over his father's shoulder. Solomon John was still looking around for a
+string when the photographer himself appeared. He was much surprised to
+find a group all ready for him. He had gone off that morning for a short
+holiday, but was not unwilling to take the family, especially when he
+heard they were soon going to Egypt. He approved of the grouping made by
+the family, but suggested that their eyes should not all be fixed upon
+the same spot. Before the pictures were finished, the station-master
+came to announce that two carriages were found to take the party to
+Gooseberry Beach.
+
+"There is no hurry," said Mr. Peterkin, "Let the pictures be finished;
+they have made us wait, we can keep them waiting as long as we please."
+
+The result, indeed, was very satisfactory. The photographer pronounced
+it a remarkably fine group. Elizabeth Eliza's eyes were lifted to the
+heavens perhaps a little too high. It gave her a rapt expression not
+customary with her; but Mr. Peterkin thought she might look in that way
+in the presence of the Sphinx. It was necessary to have a number of
+copies, to satisfy all the friends left behind when they should go to
+Egypt; and it certainly would not be worth while to come again so great
+a distance for more.
+
+It was therefore a late hour when they left Kingston. It took some time
+to arrange the party in two carriages. Mr. Peterkin ought to be in one,
+Mrs. Peterkin in the other; but it was difficult to divide the little
+boys, as all wished to take charge of the cats. The drive, too, proved
+longer than was expected,--six miles instead of four.
+
+When they reached their cousin's door, the "barge" was already standing
+there.
+
+"It has brought our luncheon-basket!" exclaimed Solomon John.
+
+"I am glad of it," said Agamemnon, "for I feel hungry enough for it."
+
+He pulled out his watch. It was three o'clock!
+
+This was indeed the "barge," but it had come for their return. The
+Gooseberry cousins, much bewildered that the family did not arrive at
+the time expected, had forgotten to send to countermand it. And the
+"barge" driver, supposing the family had arrived by the other station,
+had taken occasion to bring up the lunch-basket, as it was addressed to
+the Gooseberry cousins. The cousins flocked out to meet them. "What had
+happened? What had delayed them? They were glad to see them at last."
+
+Mrs. Peterkin, when she understood the state of the case, insisted upon
+getting directly into the "barge" to return, although the driver said
+there would be a few moments to spare. Some of the cousins busied
+themselves in opening the luncheon-basket, and a part led the little
+boys and Agamemnon and Solomon John down upon the beach in front of the
+house; there would be a few moments for a glance at the sea. Indeed, the
+little boys ventured in their India-rubber boots to wade in a little
+way, as the tide was low. And Agamemnon and Solomon John walked to look
+at a boat that was drawn up on the beach, and got into it and out of it
+for practice, till they were all summoned back to the house.
+
+It was indeed time to go. The Gooseberry cousins had got out the
+luncheon, and had tried to persuade the family to spend the night. Mrs.
+Peterkin declared this would be impossible. They never had done such a
+thing. So they went off, eating their luncheon as they went, the little
+boys each with a sandwich in one hand and a piece of cake in the other.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was sure they should miss the train or lose some of the
+party. No, it was a great success; for all, and more than all, were
+found in the train: slung over the arm of one of the little boys was
+found the basket containing the cats. They were to have left the cats,
+but in their haste had brought them away again.
+
+This discovery was made in a search for the tickets which Elizabeth
+Eliza had bought, early in the morning, to go and return; they were
+needed now for return. She was sure she had given them to her father.
+Mrs. Peterkin supposed that Mr. Peterkin must have changed them for the
+Kingston tickets. The little boys felt in their pockets, Agamemnon and
+Solomon John in theirs. In the excitement, Mrs. Peterkin insisted upon
+giving up her copy of their new photograph, and could not be satisfied
+till the conductor had punched it. At last the tickets were found in the
+outer lappet of Elizabeth Eliza's hand-bag. She had looked for them in
+the inner part.
+
+It was after this that Mr. Peterkin ventured to pronounce the whole
+expedition a success. To be sure, they had not passed the day at the
+beach, and had scarcely seen their cousins; but their object had been
+to practise travelling, and surely they had been travelling all day.
+Elizabeth Eliza had seen the sea, or thought she had. She was not
+sure--she had been so busy explaining to the cousins and showing the
+photographs. Agamemnon was sorry she had not walked with them to the
+beach, and tried getting in and out of the boat. Elizabeth Eliza
+regretted this. Of course it was not the same as getting into a boat on
+the sea, where it would be wobbling more, but the step must have been
+higher from the sand. Solomon John said there was some difficulty. He
+had jumped in, but was obliged to take hold of the side in getting out.
+
+The little boys were much encouraged by their wade into the tide. They
+had been a little frightened at first when the splash came, but the
+tide had been low. On the whole, Mr. Peterkin continued, things had gone
+well. Even the bringing back of the cats might be considered a good
+omen. Cats were worshipped in Egypt, and they ought not to have tried
+to part with them. He was glad they had brought the cats. They gave the
+little boys an interest in feeding them while they were waiting at the
+Kingston station.
+
+Their adventures were not quite over, as the station was crowded when
+they reached Boston. A military company had arrived from the South and
+was received by a procession. A number of distinguished guests also were
+expected, and the Peterkins found it difficult to procure a carriage.
+They had determined to take a carriage, so that they might be sure to
+reach their own evening train in season.
+
+At last Mr. Peterkin discovered one that was empty, standing at the end
+of a long line. There would be room for Mrs. Peterkin, Elizabeth Eliza,
+himself, and the little boys, and Agamemnon and Solomon John agreed to
+walk behind in order to keep the carriage in sight. But they were much
+disturbed when they found they were going at so slow a pace. Mr. Peterkin
+called to the coachman in vain. He soon found that they had fallen into
+the line of the procession, and the coachman was driving slowly on
+behind the other carriages. In vain Mr. Peterkin tried to attract the
+driver's attention. He put his head out of one window after another, but
+only to receive the cheers of the populace ranged along the sidewalk.
+He opened the window behind the coachman and pulled his coat. But the
+cheering was so loud that he could not make himself heard. He tried to
+motion to the coachman to turn down one of the side streets, but in
+answer the driver pointed out with his whip the crowds of people. Mr.
+Peterkin, indeed, saw it would be impossible to make their way through
+the throng that filled every side street which they crossed. Mrs.
+Peterkin looked out of the back window for Agamemnon and Solomon John.
+They were walking side by side, behind the carriage, taking off their
+hats, and bowing to the people cheering on either side.
+
+"They are at the head of a long row of men, walking two by two," said
+Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"They are part of the procession," said Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"We are part of the procession," Mr. Peterkin answered.
+
+"I rather like it," said Mrs. Peterkin, with a calm smile, as she looked
+out of the window and bowed in answer to a cheer.
+
+"Where do you suppose we shall go?" asked Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"I have often wondered what became of a procession," said Mr. Peterkin.
+"They are always going somewhere, but I never could tell where they went
+to."
+
+"We shall find out!" exclaimed the little boys, who were filled with
+delight, looking now out of one window, now out of the other.
+
+"Perhaps we shall go to the armory," said one.
+
+This alarmed Mrs. Peterkin. Sounds of martial music were now heard, and
+the noise of the crowd grew louder. "I think you ought to ask where we
+are going," she said to Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"It is not for us to decide," he answered calmly. "They have taken us
+into the procession. I suppose they will show us the principal streets,
+and will then leave us at our station."
+
+This, indeed, seemed to be the plan. For two hours more the Peterkins,
+in their carriage, and Agamemnon and Solomon John, afoot, followed on.
+Mrs. Peterkin looked out upon rows and rows of cheering people. The
+little boys waved their caps.
+
+"It begins to be a little monotonous," said Mrs. Peterkin, at last.
+
+"I am afraid we have missed all the trains," said Elizabeth Eliza,
+gloomily. But Mr. Peterkin's faith held to the last, and was rewarded.
+The carriage reached the square in which stood the railroad station. Mr.
+Peterkin again seized the lapels of the coachman's coat and pointed to
+the station, and he was able to turn his horses in that direction. As
+they left the crowd, they received a parting cheer. It was with
+difficulty that Agamemnon and Solomon John broke from the ranks.
+
+"That was a magnificent reception!" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin, wiping his
+brow, after paying the coachman twice his fee. But Elizabeth Eliza said,--
+
+"But we have lost all the trains, I am sure."
+
+They had lost all but one. It was the last.
+
+"And we have lost the cats!" the little boys suddenly exclaimed. But
+Mrs. Peterkin would not allow them to turn back in search of them.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR.
+
+
+It was, to be sure, a change of plan to determine to go to Grandfather's
+for a maple-sugaring instead of going to Egypt! But it seemed best.
+Egypt was not given up,--only postponed. "It has lasted so many
+centuries," sighed Mr. Peterkin, "that I suppose it will not crumble
+much in one summer more."
+
+The Peterkins had determined to start for Egypt in June, and Elizabeth
+Eliza had engaged her dressmaker for January; but after all their plans
+were made, they were told that June was the worst month of all to go to
+Egypt in,--that they would arrive in midsummer, and find the climate
+altogether too hot,--that people who were not used to it died of it.
+Nobody thought of going to Egypt in summer; on the contrary, everybody
+came away. And what was worse, Agamemnon learned that not only the
+summers were unbearably hot, but there really was no Egypt in
+summer,--nothing to speak of,--nothing but water; for there was a great
+inundation of the river Nile every summer, which completely covered the
+country, and it would be difficult to get about except in boats.
+
+Mr. Peterkin remembered he had heard something of the sort, but he did
+not suppose it had been kept up with the modern improvements.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin felt that the thing must be very much exaggerated. She
+could not believe the whole country would be covered, or that everybody
+would leave; as summer was surely the usual time for travel, there must
+be strangers there, even if the natives left. She would not be sorry if
+there were fewer of the savages. As for the boats, she supposed after
+their long voyage they would all be used to going about in boats; and
+she had thought seriously of practising, by getting in and out of the
+rocking-chair from the sofa.
+
+The family, however, wrote to the lady from Philadelphia, who had
+travelled in Egypt, and whose husband knew everything about Egypt that
+could be known,--that is, everything that had already been dug up,
+though he could only guess at what might be brought to light next.
+
+The result was a very earnest recommendation not to leave for Egypt till
+the autumn. Travellers did not usually reach there before December,
+though October might be pleasant on account of the fresh dates.
+
+So the Egypt plan was reluctantly postponed; and, to make amends for the
+disappointment to the little boys, an excursion for maple syrup was
+proposed instead.
+
+Mr. Peterkin considered it almost a necessity. They ought to acquaint
+themselves with the manufactures of their own new country before
+studying those of the oldest in the world. He had been inquiring into
+the products of Egypt at the present time, and had found sugar to be one
+of their staples. They ought, then, to understand the American methods
+and compare them with those of Egypt. It would be a pretty attention,
+indeed, to carry some of the maple sugar to the principal dignitaries
+of Egypt.
+
+But the difficulties in arranging an excursion proved almost as great
+as for going to Egypt. Sugar-making could not come off until it was
+warm enough for the sun to set the sap stirring. On the other hand,
+it must be cold enough for snow, as you could only reach the woods on
+snow-sleds. Now, if there were sun enough for the sap to rise, it would
+melt the snow; and if it were cold enough for sledding, it must be too
+cold for the syrup. There seemed an impossibility about the whole thing.
+The little boys, however, said there always had been maple sugar every
+spring,--they had eaten it; why shouldn't there be this spring?
+
+Elizabeth Eliza insisted gloomily that this was probably old sugar they
+had eaten,--you never could tell in the shops.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin thought there must be fresh sugar occasionally, as the old
+would have been eaten up. She felt the same about chickens. She never
+could understand why there were only the old, tough ones in the market,
+when there were certainly fresh young broods to be seen around the
+farm-houses every year. She supposed the market-men had begun with the
+old, tough fowls, and so they had to go on so. She wished they had begun
+the other way; and she had done her best to have the family eat up the
+old fowls, hoping they might, some day, get down to the young ones.
+
+As to the uncertainty about the weather, she suggested they should go to
+Grandfather's the day before. But how can you go the day before, when
+you don't yet know the day?
+
+All were much delighted, therefore, when Hiram appeared with the
+wood-sled, one evening, to take them, as early as possible the next
+day, to their grandfather's. He reported that the sap had started,
+the kettles had been on some time, there had been a light snow for
+sleighing, and to-morrow promised to be a fine day. It was decided
+that he should take the little boys and Elizabeth Eliza early, in the
+wood-sled; the others would follow later, in the carry-all.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin thought it would be safer to have some of the party go on
+wheels, in case of a general thaw the next day.
+
+A brilliant sun awoke them in the morning. The wood-sled was filled with
+hay, to make it warm and comfortable, and an arm-chair was tied in for
+Elizabeth Eliza. But she was obliged to go first to visit the secretary
+of the Circumambient Society, to explain that she should not be present
+at their evening meeting. One of the rules of this society was to take
+always a winding road when going upon society business, as the word
+"circumambient" means "compassing about." It was one of its laws to copy
+Nature as far as possible, and a straight line is never seen in Nature.
+Therefore she could not send a direct note to say she should not be
+present; she could only hint it in general conversation with the
+secretary; and she was obliged to take a roundabout way to reach the
+secretary's house, where the little boys called for her in her
+wood-sled.
+
+What was her surprise to find eight little boys instead of three! In
+passing the school-house they had picked up five of their friends, who
+had reached the school door a full hour before the time. Elizabeth Eliza
+thought they ought to inquire if their parents would be willing they
+should go, as they all expected to spend the night at Grandfather's.
+Hiram thought it would require too much time to stop for the consent of
+ten parents; if the sun kept on at this rate, the snow would be gone
+before they should reach the woods. But the little boys said most of the
+little boys lived in a row, and Elizabeth Eliza felt she ought not to
+take the boys away for all night without their parents' knowledge. The
+consent of two mothers and two fathers was gained, and Mr. Dobson was
+met in the street, who said he would tell the other mother. But at each
+place they were obliged to stop for additional tippets and great-coats
+and India-rubber boots for the little boys. At the Harrimans', too, the
+Harriman girls insisted on dressing up the wood-sled with evergreens,
+and made one of the boys bring their last Christmas-tree, that was
+leaning up against the barn, to set it up in the back of the sled, over
+Elizabeth Eliza. All this made considerable delay; and when they reached
+the high-road again, the snow was indeed fast melting. Elizabeth Eliza
+was inclined to turn back, but Hiram said they would find the sleighing
+better farther up among the hills. The armchair joggled about a good
+deal, and the Christmas-tree creaked behind her; and Hiram was obliged
+to stop occasionally and tie in the chair and the tree more firmly.
+
+But the warm sun was very pleasant, the eight little boys were very
+lively, and the sleigh-bells jingled gayly as they went on.
+
+It was so late when they reached the wood-road that Hiram decided they
+had better not go up the hill to their grandfather's, but turn off into
+the woods.
+
+"Your grandfather will be there by this time," he declared.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was afraid the carry-all would miss them, and thought
+they had better wait. Hiram did not like to wait longer, and proposed
+that one or two of the little boys should stop to show the way. But it
+was so difficult to decide which little boys should stay that he gave
+it up. Even to draw lots would take time. So he explained that there
+was a lunch hidden somewhere in the straw; and the little boys thought
+it an admirable time to look it up, and it was decided to stop in the
+sun at the corner of the road. Elizabeth Eliza felt a little jounced
+in the armchair, and was glad of a rest; and the little boys soon
+discovered an ample lunch,--just what might have been expected from
+Grandfather's,--apple-pie and doughnuts, and plenty of them! "Lucky
+we brought so many little boys!" they exclaimed.
+
+Hiram, however, began to grow impatient. "There 'll be no snow left," he
+exclaimed, "and no afternoon for the syrup!"
+
+But far in the distance the Peterkin carry-all was seen slowly
+approaching through the snow, Solomon John waving a red handkerchief.
+The little boys waved back, and Hiram ventured to enter upon the
+wood-road, but at a slow pace, as Elizabeth Eliza still feared that by
+some accident the family might miss them.
+
+It was with difficulty that the carry-all followed in the deep but soft
+snow, in among the trunks of the trees and over piles of leaves hidden
+in the snow. They reached at last the edge of a meadow; and on the high
+bank above it stood a row of maples, a little shanty by the side, a slow
+smoke proceeding from its chimney. The little boys screamed with
+delight, but there was no reply. Nobody there!
+
+"The folks all gone!" exclaimed Hiram; "then we must be late." And he
+proceeded to pull out a large silver watch from a side pocket. It was so
+large that he seldom was at the pains to pull it out, as it took time;
+but when he had succeeded at last, and looked at it, he started.
+
+"Late, indeed! It is four o'clock, and we were to have been here by
+eleven; they have given you up."
+
+The little boys wanted to force in the door; but Hiram said it was no
+use,--they wouldn't understand what to do, and he should have to see to
+the horses,--and it was too late, and it was likely they had carried off
+all the syrup. But he thought a minute, as they all stood in silence and
+gloom; and then he guessed they might find some sugar at Deacon Spear's,
+close by, on the back road, and that would be better than nothing. Mrs.
+Peterkin was pretty cold, and glad not to wait in the darkening wood; so
+the eight little boys walked through the wood-path, Hiram leading the
+way; and slowly the carry-all followed.
+
+They reached Deacon Spear's at length; but only Mrs. Spear was at home.
+She was very deaf, but could explain that the family had taken all their
+syrup to the annual festival.
+
+"We might go to the festival," exclaimed the little boys.
+
+"It would be very well," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to eat our fresh syrup
+there."
+
+But Mrs. Spear could not tell where the festival was to be, as she had
+not heard; perhaps they might know at Squire Ramsay's. Squire Ramsay's
+was on their way to Grandfather's, so they stopped there; but they
+learned that the "Squire's folks had all gone with their syrup to the
+festival," but the man who was chopping wood did not know where the
+festival was to be.
+
+"They 'll know at your grandfather's," said Mrs. Peterkin, from the
+carry-all.
+
+"Yes, go on to your grandfather's," advised Mr. Peterkin, "for I think
+I felt a drop of rain." So they made the best of their way to
+Grandfather's.
+
+At the moment they reached the door of the house, a party of young
+people whom Elizabeth Eliza knew came by in sleighs. She had met them
+all when visiting at her grandfather's.
+
+"Come along with us," they shouted; "we are all going down to the sugar
+festival."
+
+"That is what we have come for," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"Where is it?" asked Solomon John.
+
+"It is down your way," was the reply.
+
+"It is in your own New Hall," said another. "We have sent down all our
+syrup. The Spears and Ramsays and Doolittles have gone on with theirs.
+No time to stop; there's good sleighing on the old road."
+
+There was a little consultation with the grandfather. Hiram said that
+he could take them back with the wood-sled, when he heard there was
+sleighing on the old road; and it was decided that the whole party
+should go in the wood-sled, with the exception of Mr. Peterkin, who
+would follow on with the carry-all. Mrs. Peterkin would take the
+arm-chair, and cushions were put in for Elizabeth Eliza, and more
+apple-pie for all. No more drops of rain appeared, though the clouds
+were thickening over the setting sun.
+
+"All the way back again," sighed Mrs. Peterkin, "when we might have
+stayed at home all day, and gone quietly out to the New Hall!" But
+the little boys thought the sledding all day was great fun,--and the
+apple-pie! "And we did see the kettle through the cracks of the shanty!"
+
+"It is odd the festival should be held at the New Hall," said Elizabeth
+Eliza; "for the secretary did say something about the society meeting
+there to-night, being so far from the centre of the town."
+
+This hall was so called because it was once a new hall, built to be used
+for lectures, assemblies, and entertainments of this sort, for the
+convenience of the inhabitants who had collected about some flourishing
+factories.
+
+"You can go to your own Circumambient Society, then!" exclaimed Solomon
+John.
+
+"And in a truly circumambient manner," said Agamemnon; and he explained
+to the little boys that they could now understand the full meaning of
+the word, for surely Elizabeth Eliza had taken the most circumambient
+way of reaching the place by coming away from it.
+
+"We little thought, when we passed it early this morning," said
+Elizabeth Eliza, "that we should come back to it for our maple sugar."
+
+"It is odd the secretary did not tell you they were going to join the
+sugar festival," said Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"It is one of the rules of the society," said Elizabeth Eliza, "that the
+secretary never tells anything directly. She only hinted at the plan of
+the New Hall."
+
+"I don't see how you can find enough to talk about," said Solomon John.
+
+"We can tell of things that never have happened," said Elizabeth Eliza,
+"or that are not likely to happen, and wonder what would have happened
+if they had happened."
+
+They arrived at the festival at last, but very late, and glad to find a
+place that was warm. There was a stove at each end of the hall, and an
+encouraging sound and smell from the simmering syrup. There were long
+tables down the hall, on which were placed, in a row, first a bowl of
+snow, then a pile of saucers and spoons, then a plate of pickles,
+intended to whet the appetite for more syrup; another of bread, then
+another bowl of snow, and so on. Hot syrup was to be poured on the snow
+and eaten as candy.
+
+The Peterkin family were received at this late hour with a wild
+enthusiasm. Elizabeth Eliza was an especial heroine, and was made
+directly the president of the evening. Everybody said that she had best
+earned the distinction; for had she not come to the meeting by the
+longest way possible, by going away from it? The secretary declared that
+the principles of the society had been completely carried out. She had
+always believed that if left to itself, information would spread itself
+in a natural instead of a forced way.
+
+"Now, in this case, if I had written twenty-nine notifications to this
+meeting, I should have wasted just so much of my time. But the
+information has disseminated naturally. Ann Maria said what a good plan
+it would be to have the Circumambients go to the sugaring at the New
+Hall. Everybody said it would be a good plan. Elizabeth Eliza came and
+spoke of the sugaring, and I spoke of the New Hall."
+
+"But if you had told Elizabeth Eliza that all the maple syrup was to be
+brought here--" began Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"We should have lost our excursion for maple syrup," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+Later, as they reached home in the carry-all (Hiram having gone back
+with the wood-sled), Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, after leaving little boys at
+their homes all along the route, found none of their own to get out at
+their own door. They must have joined Elizabeth Eliza, Agamemnon, and
+Solomon John in taking a circuitous route home with the rest of the
+Circumambients.
+
+"The little boys will not be at home till midnight," said Mrs. Peterkin,
+anxiously. "I do think this is carrying the thing too far, after such a
+day!"
+
+"Elizabeth Eliza will feel that she has acted up to the principles of
+the society," said Mr. Peterkin, "and we have done our best; for, as the
+little boys said, 'we did see the kettle.'"
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE PETERKINS "AT HOME."
+
+
+Might not something be done by way of farewell before leaving for Egypt?
+They did not want to give another tea-party, and could not get in all at
+dinner. They had had charades and a picnic. Elizabeth Eliza wished for
+something unusual, that should be remembered after they had left for
+Egypt. Why should it not be a fancy ball? There never had been one in
+the place.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin hesitated. Perhaps for that reason they ought not to
+attempt it. She liked to have things that other people had. She however
+objected most to the "ball" part. She could indeed still dance a minuet,
+but she was not sure she could get on in the "Boston dip."
+
+The little boys said they would like the "fancy" part and "dressing up."
+They remembered their delight when they browned their faces for Hindus,
+at their charades, just for a few minutes; and what fun it would be to
+wear their costumes through a whole evening! Mrs. Peterkin shook her
+head; it was days and days before the brown had washed out of their
+complexions.
+
+Still, she too was interested in the "dressing up." If they should wear
+costumes, they could make them of things that might be left behind, that
+they had done wearing, if they could only think of the right kind of
+things.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin, indeed, had already packed up, although they were not to
+leave for two months, for she did not want to be hurried at the last.
+She and Elizabeth Eliza went on different principles in packing.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had been told that you really needed very little to
+travel with,--merely your travelling dress and a black silk. Mrs.
+Peterkin, on the contrary, had heard it was best to take everything you
+had, and then you need not spend your time shopping in Paris. So they
+had decided upon adopting both ways. Mrs. Peterkin was to take her
+"everything," and already had all the shoes and stockings she should
+need for a year or two. Elizabeth Eliza, on the other hand, prepared a
+small valise. She consoled herself with the thought that if she should
+meet anything that would not go into it, she could put it in one of her
+mother's trunks.
+
+It was resolved to give the fancy ball.
+
+Mr. Peterkin early determined upon a character. He decided to be Julius
+Cæsar. He had a bald place on the top of his head, which he was told
+resembled that of the great Roman; and he concluded that the dress would
+be a simple one to get up, requiring only a sheet for a toga.
+
+Agamemnon was inclined to take the part which his own name represented,
+and he looked up the costume of the Greek king of men. But he was
+dissatisfied with the representation given of him in Dr. Schliemann's
+"Mykenæ." There was a picture of Agamemnon's mask, but very much
+battered. He might get a mask made in that pattern, indeed, and the
+little boys were delighted with the idea of battering it. Agamemnon
+would like to wear a mask, then he would have no trouble in keeping up
+his expression. But Elizabeth Eliza objected to the picture in Dr.
+Schliemann's book; she did not like it for Agamemnon,--it was too
+slanting in the eyes. So it was decided he should take the part of Nick
+Bottom, in "Midsummer Night's Dream." He could then wear the ass's head,
+which would have the same advantage as a mask, and would conceal his own
+face entirely. Then he could be making up any face he pleased in the
+ass's head, and would look like an ass without any difficulty, while his
+feet would show he was not one. Solomon John thought that they might
+make an ass's head if they could get a pattern, or could see the real
+animal and form an idea of the shape. Barnum's Circus would be along in
+a few weeks, and they could go on purpose to study the donkeys, as there
+usually was more than one donkey in the circus. Agamemnon, however, in
+going with a friend to a costumer's in Boston, found an ass's head
+already made.
+
+The little boys found in an illustrated paper an accurate description
+of the Hindu snake-charmer's costume, and were so successful in their
+practice of shades of brown for the complexion, that Solomon John
+decided to take the part of Othello, and use some of their staining
+fluid.
+
+There was some discussion as to consulting the lady from Philadelphia,
+who was in town.
+
+Solomon John thought they ought to practise getting on by themselves,
+for soon the Atlantic would lie between her and them. Mrs. Peterkin
+thought they could telegraph. Elizabeth Eliza wanted to submit to her
+two or three questions about the supper, and whether, if her mother were
+Queen Elizabeth, they could have Chinese lanterns. Was China invented at
+that time? Agamemnon was sure China was one of the oldest countries in
+the world and did exist, though perhaps Queen Elizabeth did not know it.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was relieved to find that the lady from Philadelphia
+thought the question not important. It would be impossible to have
+everything in the house to correspond with all the different characters,
+unless they selected some period to represent, such as the age of Queen
+Elizabeth. Of course, Elizabeth Eliza would not wish to do this when her
+father was to be Julius Cæsar.
+
+The lady from Philadelphia advised Mrs. Peterkin to send for Jones the
+"caterer" to take charge of the supper. But his first question staggered
+her. How many did she expect?
+
+They had not the slightest idea. They had sent invitations to everybody.
+The little boys proposed getting the directory of the place, and marking
+out the people they didn't know and counting up the rest. But even if
+this would give the number of invitations, it would not show how many
+would accept; and then there was no such directory. They could not
+expect answers, as their invitations were cards with "At Home" on them.
+One answer had come from a lady, that she too would be "at home" with
+rheumatism. So they only knew there was one person who would not come.
+Elizabeth Eliza had sent in Circumambient ways to all the members of
+that society,--by the little boys, for instance, who were sure to stop
+at the base-ball grounds, or somewhere, so a note was always delayed by
+them. One Circumambient note she sent by mail, purposely omitting the
+"Mass.," so that it went to the Dead-Letter Office, and came back six
+weeks after the party.
+
+But the Peterkin family were not alone in commotion. The whole town was
+in excitement, for "everybody" had been invited. Ann Maria Bromwick
+had a book of costumes that she lent to a few friends, and everybody
+borrowed dresses or lent them, or went into town to the costumer's.
+Weeks passed in preparation. "What are you going to wear?" was the only
+question exchanged; and nobody answered, as nobody would tell.
+
+At length the evening came,--a beautiful night in late summer, warm
+enough to have had the party out-of-doors; but the whole house was
+lighted up and thrown open, and Chinese lanterns hung in the portico and
+on the pillars of the piazzas.
+
+At an early hour the Peterkins were arrayed in their costumes. The
+little boys had their legs and arms and faces browned early in the day,
+and wore dazzlingly white full trousers and white turbans.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had prepared a dress as Queen Elizabeth; but Solomon
+John was desirous that she should be Desdemona, and she gave up her
+costume to her mother. Mrs. Peterkin therefore wore a red wig which Ann
+Maria had found at a costumer's, a high ruff, and an old-fashioned
+brocade. She was not sure that it was proper for Queen Elizabeth to wear
+spectacles; but Queen Elizabeth must have been old enough, as she lived
+to be seventy. As for Elizabeth Eliza, in recalling the fact that
+Desdemona was smothered by pillows, she was so impressed by it that she
+decided she could wear the costume of a sheet-and-pillow-case party. So
+she wore a white figured silk that had been her mother's wedding-dress,
+and over it draped a sheet as a large mantle, and put a pillow-case upon
+her head, and could represent Desdemona not quite smothered. But Solomon
+John wished to carry out the whole scene at the end.
+
+As they stood together, all ready to receive, in the parlor at the
+appointed hour, Mr. Peterkin suddenly exclaimed,--
+
+"This will never do! We are not the Peterkins,--we are distinguished
+guests! We cannot receive."
+
+"We shall have to give up the party," said Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"Or our costumes," groaned Agamemnon from his ass's head.
+
+"We must go out, and come in as guests," said Elizabeth Eliza, leading
+the way to a back door, for guests were already thronging in, and up
+the front stairs. They passed out by a piazza, through the hedge of
+hollyhocks, toward the front of the house. Through the side windows of
+the library they could see the company pouring in. The black attendant
+was showing them upstairs; some were coming down, in doubt whether to
+enter the parlors, as no one was there. The wide middle entrance hall
+was lighted brilliantly; so were the parlors on one side and the library
+on the other.
+
+But nobody was there to receive! A flock of guests was
+assembling,--peasant girls, Italian, German, and Norman; Turks, Greeks,
+Persians, fish-wives, brigands, chocolate-women, Lady Washington,
+Penelope, Red Riding-hood, Joan of Arc, nuns, Amy Robsart, Leicester,
+two or three Mary Stuarts, Neapolitan fisher-boys, pirates of Penzance
+and elsewhere,--all lingering, some on the stairs, some going up, some
+coming down.
+
+Charles I. without his head was entering the front door (a short
+gentleman, with a broad ruff drawn neatly together on top of his own
+head, which was concealed in his doublet below).
+
+Three Hindu snake-charmers leaped wildly in and out among the throng,
+flinging about dark, crooked sticks for snakes.
+
+There began to be a strange, deserted air about the house. Nobody knew
+what to do, where to go!
+
+"Can anything have happened to the family?"
+
+"Have they gone to Egypt?" whispered one.
+
+No ushers came to show them in. A shudder ran through the whole
+assembly, the house seemed so uninhabited; and some of the guests were
+inclined to go away. The Peterkins saw it all through the long
+library-windows.
+
+"What shall we do?" said Mr. Peterkin. "We have said _we_ should
+be 'At Home.'"
+
+"And here we are, all out-of-doors among the hollyhocks," said Elizabeth
+Eliza.
+
+"There are no Peterkins to 'receive,'" said Mr. Peterkin, gloomily.
+
+"We might go in and change our costumes," said Mrs. Peterkin, who
+already found her Elizabethan ruff somewhat stiff; "but, alas! I could
+not get at my best dress."
+
+"The company is filling all the upper rooms," said Elizabeth Eliza; "we
+cannot go back."
+
+At this moment the little boys returned from the front door, and in a
+subdued whisper explained that the lady from Philadelphia was arriving.
+
+"Oh, bring her here!" said Mrs. Peterkin. And Solomon John hastened to
+meet her.
+
+She came, to find a strange group half lighted by the Chinese lanterns.
+Mr. Peterkin, in his white toga, with a green wreath upon his head, came
+forward to address her in a noble manner, while she was terrified by the
+appearance of Agamemnon's ass's head, half hidden among the leaves.
+
+"What shall we do?" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin. "There are no Peterkins;
+yet we have sent cards to everybody that they are 'At Home'!"
+
+The lady from Philadelphia, who had been allowed to come without
+costume, considered for a moment. She looked through the windows to the
+seething mass now crowding the entrance hall. The Hindu snake-charmers
+gambolled about her.
+
+"_We_ will receive as the Peterkin family!" she exclaimed. She
+inquired for a cap of Mrs. Peterkin's, with a purple satin bow, such as
+she had worn that very morning. Amanda was found by a Hindu, and sent
+for it and for a purple cross-over shawl that Mrs. Peterkin was wont to
+wear. The daughters of the lady from Philadelphia put on some hats of
+the little boys and their India-rubber boots. Hastily they went in
+through the back door and presented themselves, just as some of the
+wavering guests had decided to leave the house, it seeming so quiet
+and sepulchral.
+
+The crowd now flocked into the parlors. The Peterkins themselves left
+the hollyhocks and joined the company that was entering; Mr. Peterkin,
+as Julius Cæsar, leading in Mrs. Peterkin, as Queen Elizabeth. Mrs.
+Peterkin hardly knew what to do, as she passed the parlor door; for one
+of the Osbornes, as Sir Walter Raleigh, flung a velvet cloak before
+her. She was uncertain whether she ought to step on it, especially as
+she discovered at that moment that she had forgotten to take off her
+rubber overshoes, which she had put on to go through the garden. But
+as she stood hesitating, the lady from Philadelphia, as Mrs. Peterkin,
+beckoned her forward, and she walked over the ruby velvet as though it
+were a door-mat.
+
+For another surprise stunned her,--there were three Mrs. Peterkins! Not
+only Mrs. Bromwick, but their opposite neighbor, had induced Amanda to
+take dresses of Mrs. Peterkin's from the top of the trunks, and had come
+in at the same moment with the lady from Philadelphia, ready to receive.
+She stood in the middle of the bow-window at the back of the room, the
+two others in the corners. Ann Maria Bromwick had the part of Elizabeth
+Eliza, and Agamemnon too was represented; and there were many sets of
+"little boys" in India-rubber boots, going in and out with the Hindu
+snake-charmers.
+
+Mr. Peterkin had studied up his Latin grammar a little, in preparation
+for his part of Julius Cæsar. Agamemnon had reminded him that it was
+unnecessary, as Julius Cæsar in Shakspeare spoke in English. Still he
+now found himself using with wonderful ease Latin phrases such as "E
+pluribus unum," "lapsus linguæ," and "sine qua non," where they seemed
+to be appropriate.
+
+Solomon John looked well as Othello, although by some he was mistaken
+for an older snake-charmer, with his brown complexion, glaring white
+trousers, and white shirt. He wore a white lawn turban that had belonged
+to his great-grandmother. His part, however, was more understood when he
+was with Elizabeth Eliza as Desdemona; for they occasionally formed a
+tableau, in which he pulled the pillow-case completely over her head.
+
+Agamemnon was greeted with applause as Nick Bottom. He sang the song of
+the "ousel cock," but he could not make himself heard. At last he found
+a "Titania" who listened to him.
+
+But none of the company attempted to carry out the parts represented by
+their costumes. Charles I. soon conversed with Oliver Cromwell and with
+the different Mary Stuarts, who chatted gayly, as though executions were
+every-day occurrences.
+
+At first there was a little awkwardness. Nuns stood as quiet as if in
+their convent cells, and brave brigands hid themselves behind the doors;
+but as the different guests began to surprise each other, the sounds of
+laughter and talking increased. Every new-comer was led up to each
+several Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+Then came a great surprise,--a band of music sounded from the piazza.
+Some of the neighbors had sent in the town band, as a farewell tribute.
+This added to the excitement of the occasion. Strains of dance-music
+were heard, and dancing was begun. Sir Walter Raleigh led out Penelope,
+and Red Riding-hood without fear took the arm of the fiercest brigand
+for a round dance.
+
+The various groups wandered in and out. Elizabeth Eliza studied the
+costumes of her friends, and wished she had tried each one of them. The
+members of the Circumambient Society agreed that it would be always well
+to wear costumes at their meetings. As the principles of the society
+enforced a sort of uncertainty, if you always went in a different
+costume you would never have to keep up your own character. Elizabeth
+Eliza thought she should enjoy this. She had all her life been troubled
+with uncertainties and questions as to her own part of "Elizabeth
+Eliza," wondering always if she were doing the right thing. It did not
+seem to her that other people had such a bother. Perhaps they had
+simpler parts. They always seemed to know when to speak and when to
+be silent, while she was always puzzled as to what she should do as
+Elizabeth Eliza. Now, behind her pillow-case, she could look on and do
+nothing; all that was expected of her was to be smothered now and then.
+She breathed freely and enjoyed herself, because for the evening she
+could forget the difficult role of Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was bewildered. She thought it a good occasion to study
+how Mrs. Peterkin should act; but there were three Mrs. Peterkins. She
+found herself gazing first at one, then at another. Often she was
+herself called Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+[Illustration: The ass's head proved hot and heavy, and Agamemnon was
+forced to hang it over his arm.]
+
+At supper-time the bewilderment increased. She was led in by the Earl
+of Leicester, as principal guest. Yet it was to her own dining-room,
+and she recognized her own forks and spoons among the borrowed ones,
+although the china was different (because their own set was not large
+enough to go round for so much company). It was all very confusing. The
+dance-music floated through the air. Three Mrs. Peterkins hovered before
+her, and two Agamemnons; for the ass's head proved hot and heavy, and
+Agamemnon was forced to hang it over his arm as he offered coffee to
+Titania. There seemed to be two Elizabeth Elizas, for Elizabeth Eliza
+had thrown back her pillow-case in order to eat her fruit-ice. Mr.
+Peterkin was wondering how Julius Cæsar would have managed to eat
+his salad with his fork, before forks were invented, and then he fell
+into a fit of abstraction, planning to say "Vale" to the guests as they
+left, but anxious that the word should not slip out before the time.
+Eight little boys and three Hindu snake-charmers were eating copiously
+of frozen pudding. Two Joans of Arc were talking to Charles I., who had
+found his head. All things seemed double to Mrs. Peterkin as they
+floated before her.
+
+"Was she eating her own supper or somebody's else? Were they Peterkins,
+or were they not?"
+
+Strains of dance-music sounded from the library. Yes, they were giving a
+fancy ball! The Peterkins were "At Home" for the last time before
+leaving for Egypt!
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT.
+
+
+The family had taken passage in the new line for Bordeaux. They supposed
+they had; but would they ever reach the vessel in New York? The last
+moments were terrific. In spite of all their careful arrangements, their
+planning and packing of the last year, it seemed, after all, as if
+everything were left for the very last day. There were presents for the
+family to be packed, six steamer-bags for Mrs. Peterkin, half a dozen
+satchels of salts-bottles for Elizabeth Eliza, Apollinaris water,
+lunch-baskets. All these must be disposed of.
+
+On the very last day Elizabeth Eliza went into Boston to buy a bird, as
+she had been told she would be less likely to be sea-sick if she had a
+bird in a cage in her stateroom. Both she and her mother disliked the
+singing of caged birds, especially of canaries; but Mrs. Peterkin argued
+that they would be less likely to be homesick, as they never had birds
+at home. After long moments of indecision, Elizabeth Eliza determined
+upon two canary-birds, thinking she might let them fly as they
+approached the shore of Portugal, and they would then reach their native
+islands. This matter detained her till the latest train, so that on her
+return from Boston to their quiet suburban home, she found the whole
+family assembled in the station, ready to take the through express train
+to New York.
+
+She did not have time, therefore, to go back to the house for her own
+things. It was now locked up and the key intrusted to the Bromwicks; and
+all the Bromwicks and the rest of the neighbors were at the station,
+ready to bid them good-by. The family had done their best to collect all
+her scattered bits of baggage; but all through her travels, afterward,
+she was continually missing something she had left behind, that she
+would have packed and had intended to bring.
+
+They reached New York with half a day on their hands; and during this
+time Agamemnon fell in with some old college friends, who were going
+with a party to Greece to look up the new excavations. They were to
+leave the next day in a steamer for Gibraltar. Agamemnon felt that here
+was the place for him, and hastened to consult his family. Perhaps he
+could persuade them to change their plans and take passage with the
+party for Gibraltar. But he reached the pier just as the steamer for
+Bordeaux was leaving the shore. He was too late, and was left behind!
+Too late to consult them, too late even to join them! He examined his
+map, however,--one of his latest purchases, which he carried in his
+pocket,--and consoled himself with the fact that on reaching Gibraltar
+he could soon communicate with his family at Bordeaux, and he was easily
+reconciled to his fate.
+
+It was not till the family landed at Bordeaux that they discovered the
+absence of Agamemnon. Every day there had been some of the family unable
+to come on deck,--sea-sick below. Mrs. Peterkin never left her berth,
+and constantly sent messages to the others to follow her example, as she
+was afraid some one of them would be lost overboard. Those who were on
+deck from time to time were always different ones, and the passage was
+remarkably quick; while, from the tossing of the ship, as they met rough
+weather, they were all too miserable to compare notes or count their
+numbers. Elizabeth Eliza especially had been exhausted by the voyage.
+She had not been many days seasick, but the incessant singing of the
+birds had deprived her of sleep. Then the necessity of talking French
+had been a great tax upon her. The other passengers were mostly French,
+and the rest of the family constantly appealed to her to interpret their
+wants, and explain them to the _garçon_ once every day at dinner.
+She felt as if she never wished to speak another word in French; and
+the necessity of being interpreter at the hotel at Bordeaux, on their
+arrival, seemed almost too much for her. She had even forgotten to let
+her canary-birds fly when off shore in the Bay of Biscay, and they were
+still with her, singing incessantly, as if they were rejoicing over an
+approach to their native shores. She thought now she must keep them till
+their return, which they were already planning.
+
+The little boys, indeed, would like to have gone back on the return trip
+of the steamer. A son of the steward told them that the return cargo
+consisted of dried fruits and raisins; that every stateroom, except
+those occupied with passengers, would be filled with boxes of raisins
+and jars of grapes; that these often broke open in the passage, giving
+a great opportunity for boys.
+
+But the family held to their Egypt plan, and were cheered by making the
+acquaintance of an English party. At the _table d'hôte_ Elizabeth
+Eliza by chance dropped her fork into her neighbor's lap. She apologized
+in French; her neighbor answered in the same language, which Elizabeth
+Eliza understood so well that she concluded she had at last met with a
+true Parisian, and ventured on more conversation, when suddenly they
+both found they were talking in English, and Elizabeth Eliza exclaimed,
+"I am so glad to meet an American," at the moment that her companion was
+saying, "Then you are an Englishwoman!"
+
+From this moment Elizabeth Eliza was at ease, and indeed both parties
+were mutually pleased. Elizabeth Eliza's new friend was one of a large
+party, and she was delighted to find that they too were planning a
+winter in Egypt. They were waiting till a friend should have completed
+her "cure" at Pau, and the Peterkins were glad also to wait for the
+appearance of Agamemnon, who might arrive in the next steamer.
+
+One of the little boys was sure he had heard Agamemnon's voice the
+morning after they left New York, and was certain he must have been on
+board the vessel. Mr. Peterkin was not so sure. He now remembered that
+Agamemnon had not been at the dinner-table the very first evening; but
+then neither Mrs. Peterkin nor Solomon John was able to be present, as
+the vessel was tossing in a most uncomfortable manner, and nothing but
+dinner could have kept the little boys at table. Solomon John knew that
+Agamemnon had not been in his own stateroom during the passage, but he
+himself had seldom left it, and it had been always planned that
+Agamemnon should share that of a fellow-passenger.
+
+However this might be, it would be best to leave Marseilles with the
+English party by the "P. & O." steamer. This was one of the English
+"Peninsular and Oriental" line, that left Marseilles for Alexandria,
+Egypt, and made a return trip directly to Southampton, England. Mr.
+Peterkin thought it might be advisable to take "go-and-return" tickets,
+coming back to Southampton; and Mrs. Peterkin liked the idea of no
+change of baggage, though she dreaded the longer voyage. Elizabeth Eliza
+approved of this return trip in the P. & O. steamer, and decided it
+would give a good opportunity to dispose of her canary-birds on her
+return.
+
+The family therefore consoled themselves at Marseilles with the belief
+that Agamemnon would appear somehow. If not, Mr. Peterkin thought he
+could telegraph him from Marseilles, if he only knew where to telegraph
+to. But at Marseilles there was great confusion at the Hôtel de
+Noailles; for the English party met other friends, who persuaded them to
+take route together by Brindisi. Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to continue
+with her new English friend, and Solomon John was delighted with the
+idea of passing through the whole length of Italy. But the sight of the
+long journey, as she saw it on the map in the guide-book, terrified Mrs.
+Peterkin. And Mr. Peterkin had taken their tickets for the Marseilles
+line. Elizabeth Eliza still dwelt upon the charm of crossing under the
+Alps, while this very idea alarmed Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+On the last morning the matter was still undecided. On leaving the
+hotel, it was necessary for the party to divide and take two omnibuses.
+Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin reached the steamer at the moment of departure,
+and suddenly Mrs. Peterkin found they were leaving the shore. As they
+crossed the broad gangway to reach the deck, she had not noticed they
+had left the pier; indeed, she had supposed that the steamer was one she
+saw out in the offing, and that they would be obliged to take a boat to
+reach it. She hurried from the group of travellers whom she had followed
+to find Mr. Peterkin reading from his guide-book to the little boys an
+explanation that they were passing the Château d'If, from which the
+celebrated historical character the Count of Monte Cristo had escaped by
+flinging himself into the sea.
+
+"Where is Elizabeth Eliza? Where is Solomon John?" Mrs. Peterkin
+exclaimed, seizing Mr. Peterkin's arm. Where indeed? There was a pile
+of the hand-baggage of the family, but not that of Elizabeth Eliza, not
+even the bird-cage. "It was on the top of the other omnibus," exclaimed
+Mrs. Peterkin. Yes, one of the little boys had seen it on the pavement
+of the court-yard of the hotel, and had carried it to the omnibus in
+which Elizabeth Eliza was sitting. He had seen her through the window.
+
+"Where is that other omnibus?" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin, looking vaguely
+over the deck, as they were fast retreating from the shore. "Ask
+somebody what became of that other omnibus!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps
+they have gone with the English people," suggested Mr. Peterkin; but he
+went to the officers of the boat, and attempted to explain in French
+that one half of his family had been left behind. He was relieved to
+find that the officers could understand his French, though they did not
+talk English. They declared, however, it was utterly impossible to turn
+back. They were already two minutes and a half behind time on account of
+waiting for a party who had been very long in crossing the gangway.
+
+Mr. Peterkin returned gloomily with the little boys to Mrs. Peterkin.
+"We cannot go back," he said, "we must content ourselves with going on;
+but I conclude we can telegraph from Malta. We can send a message to
+Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John, telling them that they can take the
+next Marseilles P. & O. steamer in ten days, or that they can go back
+to Southampton for the next boat, which leaves at the end of this week.
+And Elizabeth Eliza may decide upon this," Mr. Peterkin concluded, "on
+account of passing so near the Canary Isles."
+
+"She will be glad to be rid of the birds," said Mrs. Peterkin, calming
+herself.
+
+These anxieties, however, were swallowed up in new trials. Mrs. Peterkin
+found that she must share her cabin (she found it was called "cabin,"
+and not "stateroom," which bothered her and made her feel like Robinson
+Crusoe),--her cabin she must share with some strange ladies, while Mr.
+Peterkin and the little boys were carried to another part of the ship.
+Mrs. Peterkin remonstrated, delighted to find that her English was
+understood, though it was not listened to. It was explained to her
+that every family was divided in this way, and that she would meet Mr.
+Peterkin and the little boys at meal-times in the large _salon_--on
+which all the cabins opened--and on deck; and she was obliged to content
+herself with this. Whenever they met their time was spent in concocting
+a form of telegram to send from Malta. It would be difficult to bring it
+into the required number of words, as it would be necessary to suggest
+three different plans to Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John. Besides
+the two they had already discussed, there was to be considered the
+possibility of their having joined the English party. But Mrs. Peterkin
+was sure they must have gone back first to the Hôtel de Noailles, to
+which they could address their telegram.
+
+She found, meanwhile, the ladies in her cabin very kind and agreeable.
+They were mothers returning to India, who had been home to England to
+leave their children, as they were afraid to expose them longer to the
+climate of India. Mrs. Peterkin could have sympathetic talks with them
+over their family photographs. Mrs. Peterkin's family-book was, alas!
+in Elizabeth Eliza's hand-bag. It contained the family photographs,
+from early childhood upward, and was a large volume, representing the
+children at every age.
+
+At Malta, as he supposed, Mr. Peterkin and the little boys landed, in
+order to send their telegram. Indeed, all of the gentlemen among the
+passengers, and some of the ladies, gladly went on shore to visit the
+points of interest that could be seen in the time allotted. The steamer
+was to take in coal, and would not leave till early the next morning.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin did not accompany them. She still had her fears about
+leaving the ship and returning to it, although it had been so quietly
+accomplished at Marseilles.
+
+The party returned late at night, after Mrs. Peterkin had gone to her
+cabin. The next morning, she found the ship was in motion, but she did
+not find Mr. Peterkin and the little boys at the breakfast-table as
+usual. She was told that the party who went on shore had all been to
+the opera, and had returned at a late hour to the steamer, and would
+naturally be late at breakfast. Mrs. Peterkin went on deck to await
+them, and look for Malta as it seemed to retreat in the distance. But
+the day passed on, and neither Mr. Peterkin nor either of the little
+boys appeared! She tried to calm herself with the thought that they must
+need sleep; but all the rest of the passengers appeared, relating their
+different adventures. At last she sent the steward to inquire for them.
+He came back with one of the officers of the boat, much disturbed, to
+say that they could not be found; they must have been left behind. There
+was great excitement, and deep interest expressed for Mrs. Peterkin. One
+of the officers was very surly, and declared he could not be responsible
+for the inanity of passengers. Another was more courteous. Mrs. Peterkin
+asked if they could not go back,--if, at least, she could not be put
+back. He explained how this would be impossible, but that the company
+would telegraph when they reached Alexandria.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin calmed herself as well as she could, though indeed she was
+bewildered by her position. She was to land in Alexandria alone, and the
+landing she was told would be especially difficult. The steamer would
+not be able to approach the shore; the passengers would go down the
+sides of the ship, and be lifted off the steps, by Arabs, into a felucca
+(whatever that was) below. She shuddered at the prospect. It was darker
+than her gloomiest fancies had pictured. Would it not be better to
+remain in the ship, go back to Southampton, perhaps meet Elizabeth Eliza
+there, picking up Mr. Peterkin at Malta on the way? But at this moment
+she discovered that she was not on a "P. & O." steamer,--it was a French
+steamer of the "Messagerie" line; they had stopped at Messina, and not
+at Malta. She could not go back to Southampton, so she was told by an
+English colonel on his way to India. He indeed was very courteous, and
+advised her to "go to an hotel" at Alexandria with some of the ladies,
+and send her telegrams from there. To whom, however, would she wish to
+send a telegram?
+
+"Who is Mr. Peterkin's banker?" asked the Colonel. Alas! Mrs. Peterkin
+did not know. He had at first selected a banker in London, but had
+afterward changed his mind and talked of a banker in Paris; and she was
+not sure what was his final decision. She had known the name of the
+London banker, but had forgotten it, because she had written it down,
+and she never did remember the things she wrote down in her book. That
+was her old memorandum-book, and she had left it at home because she had
+brought a new one for her travels. She was sorry now she had not kept
+the old book. This, however, was not of so much importance, as it did
+not contain the name of the Paris banker; and this she had never heard.
+"Elizabeth Eliza would know;" but how could she reach Elizabeth Eliza?
+
+Some one asked if there were not some friend in America to whom she
+could appeal, if she did not object to using the ocean telegraph.
+
+"There is a friend in America," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to whom we all of
+us do go for advice, and who always does help us. She lives in
+Philadelphia."
+
+"Why not telegraph to her for advice?" asked her friends.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin gladly agreed that it would be the best plan. The expense
+of the cablegram would be nothing in comparison with the assistance the
+answer would bring.
+
+Her new friends then invited her to accompany them to their hotel
+in Alexandria, from which she could send her despatch. The thought
+of thus being able to reach her hand across the sea to the lady from
+Philadelphia gave Mrs. Peterkin fresh courage,--courage even to make the
+landing. As she descended the side of the ship and was guided down the
+steps, she closed her eyes that she might not see herself lifted into
+the many-oared boat by the wild-looking Arabs, of whom she had caught
+a glimpse from above. But she could not close her ears; and as they
+approached the shore, strange sounds almost deafened her. She closed her
+eyes again, as she was lifted from the boat and heard the wild yells and
+shrieks around her. There was a clashing of brass, a jingling of bells,
+and the screams grew more and more terrific. If she did open her eyes,
+she saw wild figures gesticulating, dark faces, gay costumes, crowds of
+men and boys, donkeys, horses, even camels, in the distance. She closed
+her eyes once more as she was again lifted. Should she now find herself
+on the back of one of those high camels? Perhaps for this she came to
+Egypt. But when she looked round again, she found she was leaning back
+in a comfortable open carriage, with a bottle of salts at her nose. She
+was in the midst of a strange whirl of excitement; but all the party
+were bewildered, and she had scarcely recovered her composure when they
+reached the hotel.
+
+Here a comfortable meal and rest somewhat restored them. By the next day
+a messenger from the boat brought her the return telegram from Messina.
+Mr. Peterkin and family, left behind by the "Messagerie" steamer, had
+embarked the next day by steamer, probably for Naples.
+
+More anxious than ever was Mrs. Peterkin to send her despatch. It was
+too late the day of their arrival; but at an early hour next day it was
+sent, and after a day had elapsed, the answer came:--
+
+  "All meet at the Sphinx."
+
+
+Everything now seemed plain. The words were few but clear. Her English
+friends were going directly to Cairo, and she accompanied them.
+
+After reaching Cairo, the whole party were obliged to rest awhile. They
+would indeed go with Mrs. Peterkin on her first visit to the Sphinx, as
+to see the Sphinx and ascend the pyramid formed part of their programme.
+But many delays occurred to detain them, and Mrs. Peterkin had resolved
+to carry out completely the advice of the telegram. She would sit every
+day before the Sphinx. She found that as yet there was no hotel exactly
+in front of the Sphinx, nor indeed on that side of the river, and she
+would be obliged to make the excursion of nine miles there and nine
+miles back, each day. But there would always be a party of travellers
+whom she could accompany. Each day she grew more and more accustomed to
+the bewildering sights and sounds about her, and more and more willing
+to intrust herself to the dark-colored guides. At last, chafing at so
+many delays, she decided to make the expedition without her new friends.
+She had made some experiments in riding upon a donkey, and found she was
+seldom thrown, and could not be hurt by the slight fall.
+
+And so, one day, Mrs. Peterkin sat alone in front of the Sphinx,--alone,
+as far as her own family and friends were concerned, and yet not alone
+indeed. A large crowd of guides sat around this strange lady who
+proposed to spend the day in front of the Sphinx. Clad in long white
+robes, with white turbans crowning their dark faces, they gazed into her
+eyes with something of the questioning expression with which she herself
+was looking into the eyes of the Sphinx.
+
+There were other travellers wandering about. Just now her own party had
+collected to eat their lunch together; but they were scattered again,
+and she sat with a circle of Arabs about her, the watchful dragoman
+lingering near.
+
+Somehow the Eastern languor must have stolen upon her, or she could not
+have sat so calmly, not knowing where a single member of her family was
+at that moment. And she had dreaded Egypt so; had feared separation; had
+even been a little afraid of the Sphinx, upon which she was now looking
+as at a protecting angel. But they all were to meet at the Sphinx!
+
+If only she could have seen where the different members of the family
+were at that moment, she could not have sat so quietly. She little knew
+that a tall form, not far away (following some guides down into the
+lower halls of a lately excavated temple), with a blue veil wrapped
+about a face shielded with smoke-colored spectacles, was that of
+Elizabeth Eliza herself, from whom she had been separated two weeks
+before.
+
+She little knew that at this moment Solomon John was standing looking
+over the edge of the Matterhorn, wishing he had not come up so high. But
+such a gay young party had set off that morning from the hotel that he
+had supposed it an easy thing to join them; and now he would fain go
+back, but was tied to the rest of his party with their guide preceding
+them, and he must keep on and crawl up behind them, still farther, on
+hands and knees.
+
+Agamemnon was at Mycenæ, looking down into an open pit.
+
+Two of the little boys were roasting eggs in the crater of Mount
+Vesuvius.
+
+And she would have seen Mr. Peterkin comfortably reclining in a gondola,
+with one of the little boys, in front of the palaces of Venice.
+
+But none of this she saw; she only looked into the eyes of the Sphinx.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID.
+
+
+"Meet at the Sphinx!" Yes; these were the words that the lady from
+Philadelphia had sent in answer to the several telegrams that had
+reached her from each member of the Peterkin family. She had received
+these messages while staying in a remote country town, but she could
+communicate with the cable line by means of the telegraph office at a
+railway station. The intelligent operator, seeing the same date affixed
+at the close of each message, "took in," as she afterward expressed it,
+that it was the date of the day on which the message was sent; and as
+this was always prefixed to every despatch, she did not add it to the
+several messages. She afterward expressed herself as sorry for the
+mistake, and declared it should not occur another time.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was the first at the appointed spot, as her route had
+been somewhat shorter than the one her mother had taken. A wild joy had
+seized her when she landed in Egypt, and saw the frequent and happy use
+of the donkey as a beast of travel. She had never ventured to ride at
+home, and had always shuddered at the daring of the women who rode at
+the circuses, and closed her eyes at their performances. But as soon as
+she saw the little Egyptian donkeys, a mania for riding possessed her.
+She was so tall that she could scarcely, under any circumstances, fall
+from them, while she could mount them with as much ease as she could the
+arm of the sofa at home, and most of the animals seemed as harmless. It
+is true, the donkey-boys gave her the wrong word to use when she might
+wish to check the pace of her donkey, and mischievously taught her to
+avoid the soothing phrase of _beschwesch_, giving her instead one
+that should goad the beast she rode to its highest speed; but Elizabeth
+Eliza was so delighted with the quick pace that she was continually
+urging her donkey onward, to the surprise and delight of each fresh
+attendant donkey-boy. He would run at a swift pace after her, stopping
+sometimes to pick up a loose slipper, if it were shuffled off from his
+foot in his quick run, but always bringing up even in the end.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza's party had made a quick journey by the route from
+Brindisi, and proceeding directly to Cairo, had stopped at a small
+French hotel not very far from Mrs. Peterkin and her party. Every
+morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her visit to the Sphinx,
+arriving there always the first one of her own party, and spending the
+rest of the day in explorations about the neighborhood.
+
+[Illustration: Every morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her
+visit to the Sphinx.]
+
+Mrs. Peterkin, meanwhile, set out each day at a later hour, arriving
+in time to take her noon lunch in front of the Sphinx, after which she
+indulged in a comfortable nap and returned to the hotel before sunset.
+
+A week--indeed, ten days--passed in this way. One morning, Mrs. Peterkin
+and her party had taken the ferry-boat to cross the Nile. As they were
+leaving the boat on the other side, in the usual crowd, Mrs. Peterkin's
+attention was arrested by a familiar voice. She turned, to see a tall
+young man who, though he wore a red fez upon his head and a scarlet wrap
+around his neck, certainly resembled Agamemnon. But this Agamemnon was
+talking Greek, with gesticulations. She was so excited that she turned
+to follow him through the crowd, thus separating herself from the rest
+of her party. At once she found herself surrounded by a mob of Arabs, in
+every kind of costume, all screaming and yelling in the manner to which
+she was becoming accustomed. Poor Mrs. Peterkin plaintively protested in
+English, exclaiming, "I should prefer a donkey!" but the Arabs could not
+understand her strange words. They had, however, struck the ear of the
+young man in the red fez whom she had been following. He turned, and she
+gazed at him. It was Agamemnon!
+
+He, meanwhile, was separated from his party, and hardly knew how to
+grapple with the urgent Arabs. His recently acquired Greek did not
+assist him, and he was advising his mother to yield and mount one of the
+steeds, while he followed on another, when, happily, the dragoman of her
+party appeared. He administered a volley of rebukes to the persistent
+Arabs, and bore Mrs. Peterkin to her donkey. She was thus carried away
+from Agamemnon, who was also mounted upon a donkey by his companions.
+But their destination was the same; and though they could hold no
+conversation on the way, Agamemnon could join his mother as they
+approached the Sphinx.
+
+But he and his party were to ascend the pyramid before going on to the
+Sphinx, and he advised his mother to do the same. He explained that it
+was a perfectly easy thing to do. You had only to lift one of your feet
+up quite high, as though you were going to step on the mantelpiece, and
+an Arab on each side would lift you to the next step. Mrs. Peterkin was
+sure she could not step up on their mantelpieces at home. She never had
+done it,--she never had even tried to. But Agamemnon reminded her that
+those in their own house were very high,--"old colonial;" and meanwhile
+she found herself carried along with the rest of the party.
+
+At first the ascent was delightful to her. It seemed as if she were
+flying. The powerful Nubian guides, one on each side, lifted her
+jauntily up, without her being conscious of motion. Having seen them
+daily for some time past, she was now not much afraid of these handsome
+athletes, with their polished black skins, set off by dazzling white
+garments. She called out to Agamemnon, who had preceded her, that it was
+charming; she was not at all afraid. Every now and then she stopped to
+rest on the broad cornice made by each retreating step. Suddenly, when
+she was about half-way up, as she leaned back against the step above,
+she found herself panting and exhausted. A strange faintness came over
+her. She was looking off over a beautiful scene: through the wide Libyan
+desert the blue Nile wound between borders of green edging, while the
+picturesque minarets of Cairo, on the opposite side of the river, and
+the sand in the distance beyond, gleamed with a red and yellow light
+beneath the rays of the noonday sun.
+
+But the picture danced and wavered before her dizzy sight. She sat
+there alone; for Agamemnon and the rest had passed on, thinking she was
+stopping to rest. She seemed deserted, save by the speechless black
+statues, one on either side, who, as she seemed to be fainting before
+their eyes, were looking at her in some anxiety. She saw dimly these
+wild men gazing at her. She thought of Mungo Park, dying with the
+African women singing about him. How little she had ever dreamed, when
+she read that account in her youth, and gazed at the savage African
+faces in the picture, that she might be left to die in the same way
+alone, in a strange land--and on the side of a pyramid! Her guides were
+kindly. One of them took her shawl to wrap about her, as she seemed to
+be shivering; and as a party coming down from the top had a jar of
+water, one of her Nubians moistened a handkerchief with water and laid
+it upon her head. Mrs. Peterkin had closed her eyes, but she opened them
+again, to see the black figures in their white draperies still standing
+by her. The travellers coming down paused a few minutes to wonder and
+give counsel, then passed on, to make way for another party following
+them. Again Mrs. Peterkin closed her eyes, but once more opened them at
+hearing a well-known shout,--such a shout as only one of the Peterkin
+family could give,--one of the little boys!
+
+Yes, he stood before her, and Agamemnon was behind; they had met on top
+of the pyramid.
+
+The sight was indeed a welcome one to Mrs. Peterkin, and revived her so
+that she even began to ask questions: "Where had he come from? Where
+were the other little boys? Where was Mr. Peterkin?" No one could tell
+where the other little boys were. And the sloping side of the pyramid,
+with a fresh party waiting to pass up and the guides eager to go down,
+was not just the place to explain the long, confused story. All that
+Mrs. Peterkin could understand was that Mr. Peterkin was now, probably,
+inside the pyramid, beneath her very feet! Agamemnon had found this
+solitary "little boy" on top of the pyramid, accompanied by a guide and
+one of the party that he and his father had joined on leaving Venice. At
+the foot of the pyramid there had been some dispute in the party as to
+whether they should first go up the pyramid, or down inside, and in the
+altercation the party was divided; the little boy had been sure that his
+father meant to go up first, and so he had joined the guide who went up.
+But where was Mr. Peterkin? Probably in the innermost depths of the
+pyramid below. As soon as Mrs. Peterkin understood this, she was eager
+to go down, in spite of her late faintness; even to tumble down would
+help her to meet Mr. Peterkin the sooner. She was lifted from stone to
+stone by the careful Nubians. Agamemnon had already emptied his pocket
+of coins, in supplying backsheesh to his guide, and all were anxious to
+reach the foot of the pyramid and find the dragoman, who could answer
+the demands of the others.
+
+Breathless as she was, as soon as she had descended, Mrs. Peterkin was
+anxious to make for the entrance to the inside. Before, she had declared
+that nothing would induce her to go into the pyramid. She was afraid of
+being lost in its stairways and shut up forever as a mummy. But now she
+forgot all her terrors; she must find Mr. Peterkin at once!
+
+She was the first to plunge down the narrow stairway after the guide,
+and was grateful to find the steps so easy to descend. But they
+presently came out into a large, open room, where no stairway was to be
+seen. On the contrary, she was invited to mount the shoulders of a burly
+Nubian, to reach a large hole half-way up the side-wall (higher than any
+mantelpiece), and to crawl through this hole along the passage till she
+should reach another stairway. Mrs. Peterkin paused. Could she trust
+these men? Was not this a snare to entice her into one of these narrow
+passages? Agamemnon was far behind. Could Mr. Peterkin have ventured
+into this treacherous place?
+
+At this moment a head appeared through the opening above, followed by a
+body. It was that of one of the native guides. Voices were heard coming
+through the passage: one voice had a twang to it that surely Mrs.
+Peterkin had heard before. Another head appeared now, bound with a blue
+veil, while the eyes were hidden by green goggles. Yet Mrs. Peterkin
+could not be mistaken,--it was--yes, it was the head of Elizabeth Eliza!
+
+It seemed as though that were all, it was so difficult to bring forward
+any more of her. Mrs. Peterkin was screaming from below, asking if it
+were indeed Elizabeth Eliza, while excitement at recognizing her mother
+made it more difficult for Elizabeth Eliza to extricate herself. But
+travellers below and behind urged her on, and with the assistance of the
+guides, she pushed forward and almost fell into the arms of her mother.
+Mrs. Peterkin was wild with joy as Agamemnon and his brother joined
+them.
+
+"But Mr. Peterkin!" at last exclaimed their mother. "Did you see
+anything of your father?"
+
+"He is behind," said Elizabeth Eliza. "I was looking for the body of
+Chufu, the founder of the pyramid,--for I have longed to be the
+discoverer of his mummy,--and I found instead--my father!"
+
+Mrs. Peterkin looked up, and at that moment saw Mr. Peterkin emerging
+from the passage above. He was carefully planting one foot on the
+shoulder of a stalwart Nubian guide. He was very red in the face, from
+recent exertion, but he was indeed Mr. Peterkin. On hearing the cry of
+Mrs. Peterkin, he tottered, and would have fallen but for the support of
+the faithful guide.
+
+The narrow place was scarcely large enough to hold their joy. Mrs.
+Peterkin was ready to faint again with her great excitement. She wanted
+to know what had become of the other little boys, and if Mr. Peterkin
+had heard from Solomon John. But the small space was becoming more and
+more crowded. The dragomans from the different parties with which the
+Peterkins were connected came to announce their several luncheons, and
+insisted upon their leaving the pyramid.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin's dragoman wanted her to go on directly to the Sphinx, and
+she still clung to the belief that only then would there be a complete
+reunion of the family. Yet she could not separate herself from the rest.
+They could not let her go, and they were all hungry, and she herself
+felt the need of food.
+
+But with the confusion of so many luncheons, and so much explanation to
+be gone through with, it was difficult to get an answer to her
+questions.
+
+Elizabeth and her father were involved in a discussion as to whether
+they should have met if he had not gone into the queen's chamber in the
+pyramid. For if he had not gone to the queen's chamber he would have
+left the inside of the pyramid before Mrs. Peterkin reached it, and
+would have missed her, as he was too fatigued to make the ascent. And
+Elizabeth Eliza, if she had not met her father, had planned going back
+to the king's chamber in another search for the body of Chufu, in which
+case she would have been too late to meet her mother. Mrs. Peterkin was
+not much interested in this discussion; it was enough that they had met.
+But she could not get answers to what she considered more important
+questions; while Elizabeth Eliza, though delighted to meet again her
+father and mother and brothers, and though interested in the fate of the
+missing ones, was absorbed in the Egyptian question; and the mingling of
+all their interests made satisfactory intercourse impracticable.
+
+Where was Solomon John? What had become of the body of Chufu? Had
+Solomon John been telegraphed to? When had Elizabeth Eliza seen him
+last? Was he Chufu or Shufu, and why Cheops? and where were the other
+little boys?
+
+Mr. Peterkin attempted to explain that he had taken a steamer from
+Messina to the south of Italy, and a southern route to Brindisi. By
+mistake he had taken the steamer from Alexandria, on its way to Venice,
+instead of the one that was leaving Brindisi for Alexandria at the same
+hour. Indeed, just as he had discovered his mistake, and had seen the
+other boat steaming off by his side in the other direction, too late he
+fancied he saw the form of Elizabeth Eliza on deck, leaning over the
+taffrail (if it was a taffrail). It was a tall lady, with a blue veil
+wound around her hat. Was it possible? Could he have been in time to
+reach Elizabeth Eliza? His explanation only served to increase the
+number of questions.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin had many more. How had Agamemnon reached them? Had he
+come to Bordeaux with them? But Agamemnon and Elizabeth Eliza were
+now discussing with others the number of feet that the Great Pyramid
+measured. The remaining members of all the parties, too, whose hunger
+and thirst were now fully satisfied, were ready to proceed to the
+Sphinx, which only Mrs. Peterkin and Elizabeth Eliza had visited.
+
+Side by side on their donkeys, Mrs. Peterkin attempted to learn
+something from Mr. Peterkin about the other little boys. But his donkey
+proved restive: now it bore him on in swift flight from Mrs. Peterkin;
+now it would linger behind. His words were jerked out only at intervals.
+All that could be said was that they were separated; the little boys
+wanted to go to Vesuvius, but Mr. Peterkin felt they must hurry to
+Brindisi. At a station where the two trains parted--one for Naples, the
+other for Brindisi--he found suddenly, too late, that they were not with
+him; they must have gone on to Naples. But where were they now?
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS.
+
+
+The expedition up the Nile had taken place successfully. The Peterkin
+family had reached Cairo again,--at least, its scattered remnant was
+there, and they were now to consider what next.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin would like to spend her life in the dahabieh,[1] though
+she could not pronounce its name, and she still felt the strangeness
+of the scenes about her. However, she had only to look out upon the
+mud villages on the bank to see that she was in the veritable "Africa"
+she had seen pictured in the geography of her childhood. If further
+corroboration were required, had she not, only the day before, when
+accompanied by no one but a little donkey-boy, shuddered to meet a
+strange Nubian, attired principally in hair that stood out from his
+savage face in frizzes at least half a yard long?
+
+[Footnote 1: A boat used for transportation on the Nile.]
+
+But oh the comforts of no trouble in housekeeping on board the dahabieh!
+Never to know what they were to have for dinner, nor to be asked what
+they would like, and yet always to have a dinner you could ask chance
+friends to, knowing all would be perfectly served! Some of the party
+with whom they had engaged their dahabieh had even brought canned baked
+beans from New England, which seemed to make their happiness complete.
+
+"Though we see beans here," said Mrs. Peterkin, "they are not 'Boston
+beans'!"
+
+She had fancied she would have to live on stuffed ostrich (ostrich
+stuffed with iron filings, that the books tell of), or fried
+hippopotamus, or boiled rhinoceros. But she met with none of these, and
+day after day was rejoiced to find her native turkey appearing on the
+table, with pigeons and chickens (though the chickens, to be sure, were
+scarcely larger than the pigeons), and lamb that was really not more
+tough than that of New Hampshire and the White Mountains.
+
+If they dined with the Arabs, there was indeed a kind of dark
+molasses-gingerbread-looking cake, with curds in it, that she found it
+hard to eat. "But _they_ like it," she said complacently.
+
+The remaining little boy, too, smiled over his pile of ripe bananas, as
+he thought of the quarter-of-a-dollar-a-half-dozen green ones at that
+moment waiting at the corners of the streets at home. Indeed, it was a
+land for boys. There were the dates, both fresh and dried,--far more
+juicy than those learned at school; and there was the gingerbread-nut
+tree, the dôm palm, that bore a nut tasting "like baker's gingerbread
+that has been kept a few days in the shop," as the remaining little boy
+remarked. And he wished for his brothers when the live dinner came on
+board their boat, at the stopping-places, in the form of good-sized
+sheep struggling on the shoulders of stout Arabs, or an armful of live
+hens and pigeons.
+
+All the family (or as much of it as was present) agreed with Mrs.
+Peterkin's views. Amanda at home had seemed quite a blessing, but at
+this distance her services, compared with the attentions of their
+Maltese dragoman and the devotion of their Arab servants, seemed of
+doubtful value, and even Mrs. Peterkin dreaded returning to her tender
+mercies.
+
+"Just imagine inviting the Russian Count to dinner at home--and Amanda!"
+exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"And he came to dinner at least three times a week on board the boat,"
+said the remaining little boy.
+
+"The Arabs are so convenient about carrying one's umbrellas and shawls,"
+said Elizabeth Eliza. "How I should miss Hassan in picking up my blue
+veil!"
+
+The family recalled many anecdotes of the shortcomings of Amanda, as
+Mrs. Peterkin leaned back upon her divan and wafted a fly-whisk. Mr.
+Peterkin had expended large sums in telegrams from every point where he
+found the telegraph in operation; but there was no reply from Solomon
+John, and none from the two little boys.
+
+By a succession of telegrams they had learned that no one had fallen
+into the crater of Vesuvius in the course of the last six months, not
+even a little boy. This was consoling.
+
+By letters from the lady from Philadelphia, they learned that she had
+received Solomon John's telegram from Geneva at the time she heard
+from the rest of the family, and one signed "L. Boys" from Naples. But
+neither of these telegrams gave an address for return answers, which
+she had, however, sent to Geneva and Naples, with the fatal omission by
+the operator (as she afterward learned) of the date, as in the other
+telegrams.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin therefore disliked to be long away from the Sphinx, and
+their excursion up the Nile had been shortened on this account. All
+the Nubian guides near the pyramids had been furnished with additional
+backsheesh and elaborate explanations from Mr. Peterkin as to how they
+should send him information if Solomon John and the little boys should
+turn up at the Sphinx,--for all the family agreed they would probably
+appear in Egypt together.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin regretted not having any photographs to leave with the
+guides; but Elizabeth Eliza, alas! had lost at Brindisi the hand-bag
+that contained the family photograph-book.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin would have liked to take up her residence near the Sphinx
+for the rest of the year. But every one warned her that the heat of an
+Egyptian summer would not allow her to stay at Cairo,--scarcely even on
+the sea-shore, at Alexandria.
+
+How thankful was Mrs. Peterkin, a few months after, when the war in
+Egypt broke out, that her wishes had not been yielded to! For many
+nights she could not sleep, picturing how they all might have been
+massacred by the terrible mob in Alexandria.
+
+Intelligence of Solomon John led them to take their departure.
+
+One day, they were discussing at the _table d'hôte_ their letters
+from the lady from Philadelphia, and how they showed that Solomon John
+had been at Geneva.
+
+"Ah, there was his mistake!" said Elizabeth Eliza. "The Doolittles left
+Marseilles with us, and were to branch off for Geneva, and we kept on to
+Genoa, and Solomon John was always mistaking Genoa for Geneva, as we
+planned our route. I remember there was a great confusion when they got
+off."
+
+"I always mix up Geneva and Genoa," said Mrs. Peterkin. "I feel as if
+they were the same."
+
+"They are quite different," said Elizabeth Eliza; "and Genoa lay in our
+route, while Geneva took him into Switzerland."
+
+An English gentleman, on the opposite side of the table, then spoke to
+Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"I beg pardon," he said. "I think I met one of your name in Athens.
+He attracted our attention because he went every day to the same spot,
+and he told us he expected to meet his family there,--that he had an
+appointment by telegraph--"
+
+"In Athens!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"Was his name Solomon John?" asked Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"Were there two little boys?" inquired Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"His initials were the same as mine," replied the
+Englishman,--"S.J.P.,--for some of his luggage came by mistake into my
+room, and that is why I spoke of it."
+
+"Is there a Sphinx in Athens?" Mrs. Peterkin inquired.
+
+"There used to be one there," said Agamemnon.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Englishman, "but that Sphinx never was in
+Athens."
+
+"But Solomon John may have made the mistake,--we all make our mistakes,"
+said Mrs. Peterkin, tying her bonnet-strings, as if ready to go to meet
+Solomon John at that moment.
+
+"The Sphinx was at Thebes in the days of OEdipus," said the Englishman.
+"No one would expect to find it anywhere in Greece at the present day."
+
+"But was Solomon John inquiring for it?" asked Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"Indeed, no!" answered the Englishman; "he went every day to the Pnyx, a
+famous hill in Athens, where his telegram had warned him he should meet
+his friends."
+
+"The Pnyx!" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin; "and how do you spell it?"
+
+"P-n-y-x!" cried Agamemnon,--"the same letters as in Sphinx!"
+
+"All but the _s_ and the _h_ and the _y_" said Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"I often spell Sphinx with a _y_ myself," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"And a telegraph-operator makes such mistakes!" said Agamemnon.
+
+"His telegram had been forwarded to him from Switzerland," said the
+Englishman; "it had followed him into the dolomite region, and must have
+been translated many timed."
+
+"And of course they could not all have been expected to keep the letters
+in the right order," said Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"And were there two little boys with him?" repeated Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+No; there were no little boys. But further inquiries satisfied the
+family that Solomon John must be awaiting them in Athens. And how
+natural the mistake! Mrs. Peterkin said that if she had known of a Pnyx,
+she should surely have looked for the family there.
+
+Should they then meet Solomon John at the Pnyx, or summon him to Egypt?
+It seemed safer to go directly to Athens, especially as Mr. Peterkin and
+Agamemnon were anxious to visit that city.
+
+It was found that a steamer would leave Alexandria next day for Athens,
+by way of Smyrna and Constantinople. This was a roundabout course;
+but Mr. Peterkin was impatient to leave, and was glad to gain more
+acquaintance with the world. Meanwhile they could telegraph their plans
+to Solomon John, as the English gentleman could give them the address of
+his hotel.
+
+And Mrs. Peterkin did not now shrink from another voyage. Her experience
+on the Nile had made her forget her sufferings in crossing the Atlantic,
+and she no longer dreaded entering another steamboat. Their delight in
+river navigation, indeed, had been so great that the whole family had
+listened with interest to the descriptions given by their Russian
+fellow-traveller of steamboat navigation on the Volga--"the most
+beautiful river in the world," as he declared. Elizabeth Eliza and Mr.
+Peterkin were eager to try it, and Agamemnon remarked that such a trip
+would give them an opportunity to visit the renowned fair at
+Nijninovgorod. Even Mrs. Peterkin had consented to this expedition,
+provided they should meet Solomon John and the other little boys.
+
+She started, therefore, on a fresh voyage without any dread, forgetting
+that the Mediterranean, if not so wide as the Atlantic, is still a sea,
+and often as tempestuous and uncomfortably "choppy." Alas! she was soon
+to be awakened from her forgetfulness: the sea was the same old enemy.
+
+As they passed up among the Ionian Isles, and she heard Agamemnon and
+Elizabeth Eliza and their Russian friend (who was accompanying them to
+Constantinople) talking of the old gods of Greece, she fancied that they
+were living still, and that Neptune and the classic waves were wreaking
+their vengeance on them, and pounding and punishing them for venturing
+to rule them with steam. She was fairly terrified. As they entered
+Smyrna she declared she would never enter any kind of a boat again, and
+that Mr. Peterkin must find some way by which they could reach home by
+land.
+
+How delightful it was to draw near the shore, on a calm afternoon,--even
+to trust herself to the charge of the boatmen in leaving the ship, and
+to reach land once more and meet the tumult of voices and people! Here
+were the screaming and shouting usual in the East, and the same bright
+array of turbans and costumes in the crowd awaiting them. But a
+well-known voice reached them, and from the crowd rose a well-known
+face. Even before they reached the land they had recognized its owner.
+With his American dress, he looked almost foreign in contrast to the
+otherwise universal Eastern color. A tall figure on either side seemed,
+also, each to have a familiar air.
+
+Were there three Solomon Johns?
+
+No; it was Solomon John and the two other little boys--but grown so that
+they were no longer little boys. Even Mrs. Peterkin was unable to
+recognize them at first. But the tones of their voices, their ways, were
+as natural as ever. Each had a banana in his hand, and pockets stuffed
+with oranges.
+
+Questions and answers interrupted each other in a most confusing
+manner:--
+
+"Are you the little boys?"
+
+"Where have you been?"
+
+"Did you go to Vesuvius?"
+
+"How did you get away?"
+
+"Why didn't you come sooner?"
+
+"Our India-rubber boots stuck in the hot lava."
+
+"Have you been there all this time?"
+
+"No; we left them there."
+
+"Have you had fresh dates?"
+
+"They are all gone now, but the dried ones are better than those
+squeezed ones we have at home."
+
+"How you have grown!"
+
+"Why didn't you telegraph?"
+
+"Why did you go to Vesuvius, when Papa said he couldn't?"
+
+"Did you, too, think it was Pnyx?"
+
+"Where have you been all winter?"
+
+"Did you roast eggs in the crater?"
+
+"When did you begin to grow?"
+
+The little boys could not yet thoroughly explain themselves; they always
+talked together and in foreign languages, interrupting each other, and
+never agreeing as to dates.
+
+Solomon John accounted for his appearance in Smyrna by explaining that
+when he received his father's telegram in Athens, he decided to meet
+them at Smyrna. He was tired of waiting at the Pnyx. He had but just
+landed, and came near missing his family, and the little boys too, who
+had reached Athens just as he was leaving it. None of the family wished
+now to continue their journey to Athens, but they had the advice and
+assistance of their Russian friend in planning to leave the steamer at
+Constantinople; they would, by adopting this plan, be _en route_
+for the proposed excursion to the Volga.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was overwhelmed with joy at having all her family together
+once more; but with it a wave of homesickness surged over her. They were
+all together; why not go home?
+
+It was found that there was a sailing-vessel bound absolutely for Maine,
+in which they might take passage. No more separation; no more mistakes;
+no more tedious study of guide-books; no more weighing of baggage. Every
+trunk and bag, every Peterkin, could be placed in the boat, and safely
+landed on the shores of home. It was a temptation, and at one time Mrs.
+Peterkin actually pleaded for it.
+
+But there came a throbbing in her head, a swimming in her eyes, a
+swaying of the very floor of the hotel. Could she bear it, day after
+day, week after week? Would any of them be alive? And Constantinople not
+seen, nor steam-navigation on the Volga!
+
+And so new plans arose, and wonderful discoveries were made, and the
+future of the Peterkin family was changed forever.
+
+In the first place a strange stout gentleman in spectacles had followed
+the Peterkin family to the hotel, had joined in the family councils, and
+had rendered valuable service in negotiating with the officers of the
+steamer for the cancellation of their through tickets to Athens. He
+dined at the same table, and was consulted by the (formerly) little
+boys.
+
+Who was he?
+
+They explained that he was their "preceptor." It appeared that after
+they parted from their father, the little boys had become mixed up with
+some pupils who were being taken by their preceptor to Vesuvius. For
+some time he had not noticed that his party (consisting of boys of their
+own age) had been enlarged; and after finding this out, he had concluded
+they were the sons of an English family with whom he had been
+corresponding. He was surprised that no further intelligence came with
+them, and no extra baggage. They had, however, their hand-bags; and
+after sending their telegram to the lady from Philadelphia, they assured
+him that all would be right. But they were obliged to leave Naples the
+very day of despatching the telegram, and left no address to which an
+answer could be sent. The preceptor took them, with his pupils, directly
+back to his institution in Gratz, Austria, from which he had taken them
+on this little excursion.
+
+It was not till the end of the winter that he discovered that his
+youthful charges--whom he had been faithfully instructing, and who had
+found the gymnasium and invigorating atmosphere so favorable to
+growth--were not the sons of his English correspondent, whom he had
+supposed, from their explanations, to be travelling in America.
+
+He was, however, intending to take his pupils to Athens in the spring,
+and by this time the little boys were able to explain themselves better
+in his native language. They assured him they should meet their family
+in the East, and the preceptor felt it safe to take them upon the track
+proposed.
+
+It was now that Mr. Peterkin prided himself upon the plan he had
+insisted upon before leaving home. "Was it not well," he exclaimed,
+"that I provided each of you with a bag of gold, for use in case of
+emergency, hidden in the lining of your hand-bags?"
+
+This had worked badly for Elizabeth Eliza, to be sure, who had left hers
+at Brindisi; but the little boys had been able to pay some of their
+expenses, which encouraged the preceptor to believe he might trust them
+for the rest. So much pleased were all the family with the preceptor
+that they decided that all three of the little boys should continue
+under his instructions, and return with him to Gratz. This decision made
+more easy the other plans of the family.
+
+Both Agamemnon and Solomon John had decided they would like to be
+foreign consuls. They did not much care where, and they would accept any
+appointment; and both, it appeared, had written on the subject to the
+Department at Washington. Agamemnon had put in a plea for a vacancy at
+Madagascar, and Solomon John hoped for an opening at Rustchuk, Turkey;
+if not there, at Aintab, Syria. Answers were expected, which were now
+telegraphed for, to meet them in Constantinople.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Peterkin had been consulting the preceptor and the Russian
+Count about a land-journey home. More and more Mrs. Peterkin determined
+she could not and would not trust herself to another voyage, though she
+consented to travel by steamer to Constantinople. If they went as far as
+Nijninovgorod, which was now decided upon, why could they not persevere
+through "Russia in Asia"?
+
+Their Russian friend at first shook his head at this, but at last agreed
+that it might be possible to go on from Novgorod comfortably to Tobolsk,
+perhaps even from there to Yakoutsk, and then to Kamtschatka.
+
+"And cross at Behring's Strait!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. "It looks so
+narrow on the map."
+
+"And then we are in Alaska," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"And at home," exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin, "and no more voyages."
+
+But Elizabeth Eliza doubted about Kamtschatka and Behring's Strait, and
+thought it would be very cold.
+
+"But we can buy furs on our way," insisted Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"And if you do not find the journey agreeable," said their Russian
+friend, "you can turn back from Yakoutsk, even from Tobolsk, and come to
+visit us."
+
+Yes--_us_! For Elizabeth Eliza was to marry the Russian Count!
+
+He had been in a boat that was behind them on the Nile, had met them
+often, had climbed the ruins with them, joined their excursions, and had
+finally proposed at Edfu.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had then just written to consult the lady from
+Philadelphia with regard to the offer of a German professor they had
+met, and she could give no reply to the Count.
+
+Now, however, it was necessary to make a decision. She had meanwhile
+learned a few words of Russian. The Count spoke English moderately well,
+made himself understood better than the Professor, and could understand
+Elizabeth Eliza's French. Also the Count knew how to decide questions
+readily, while the Professor had to consider both sides before he could
+make up his mind.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin objected strongly at first. She could not even pronounce
+the Russian's name. "How should she be able to speak to him, or tell
+anybody whom Elizabeth Eliza had married?" But finally the family all
+gave their consent, won by the attention and devotion of Elizabeth
+Eliza's last admirer.
+
+The marriage took place in Constantinople, not at Santa Sophia, as
+Elizabeth Eliza would have wished, as that was under a Mohammedan
+dispensation. A number of American residents were present, and the
+preceptor sent for his other pupils in Athens. Elizabeth Eliza wished
+there was time to invite the lady from Philadelphia to be present, and
+Ann Maria Bromwick. Would the name be spelled right in the newspapers?
+All that could be done was to spell it by telegraph as accurately as
+possible, as far as they themselves knew how, and then leave the papers
+to do their best (or their worst) in their announcements of the wedding
+"at the American Consulate, Constantinople, Turkey. No cards."
+
+The last that was ever heard of the Peterkins, Agamemnon was on his way
+to Madagascar, Solomon John was at Rustchuk, and the little boys at
+Gratz; Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, in a comfortable sledge, were on their way
+from Tobolsk to Yakoutsk; and Elizabeth Eliza was passing her honeymoon
+in the neighborhood of Moscow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+OTHERS OF THEIR KIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+LUCILLA'S DIARY.
+
+
+MONDAY.--I spent some time this morning watching for the rag-man. I wish
+I had taken down a note which day it was I saw him before. I remember it
+was washing-day, for I had to take my hands out of the tub and wipe the
+suds off when Johnnie came to tell me that the rag-man was on the
+street. He was just turning the corner by the Wylies when I got to the
+front gate. But whether we washed on Monday I can't think. It rained
+that Monday, or the week before, and we had to wait till Tuesday; but
+which it was I couldn't say. I was in such a whirl fitting Artemas off,
+and much as ever I made him hear; and he wasn't the right man after all,
+for he wouldn't give more than a cent and a half a pound for the papers,
+and Mrs. Carruthers got two cents. She could not remember what was his
+day for coming, but agreed to send him if she should see him again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Carruthers sent the rag-man to-day; but I can't say much for the
+bargain, though he was a different man from the one that came Monday,
+and it seems it was Monday. He agreed to give me the same he gave Mrs.
+Carruthers,--two cents a pound. And I had a lot of newspapers,--all the
+papers Artemas has been taking through the winter; for he doesn't like
+me to take them for kindlings, says he would rather pay separate for
+kindlings, as I might burn the wrong one. And there were the papers that
+came around his underclothes and inside the packing boxes he has taken
+away. So I expected to make something; but he gave me no more than
+forty-five cents! He weighed them, and said himself there were thirty
+pounds. That ought to have come to sixty cents at least, according
+to my arithmetic. But he made out it was all right, and had them all
+packed up, and went off, though I followed him out to the gate and told
+him that it didn't amount to no more than I might have got from the
+other man at a cent and a half. He said it was all they were worth; that
+he wished he could get as much for them. Then I asked him why he took
+the trouble to come for them, under the circumstances. But by that time
+he was off and down the street.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was just sitting at the window this morning, and there were Mr. and
+Mrs. Peebles walking down the street,--he on one side and she on the
+other. I do wonder why they didn't go on the same side! If they hadn't
+got so far past the gate, I'd have asked them. I never heard there was
+any quarrel between them, and it was just as muddy this side of the
+street as that. They have been spending their winters in the city
+lately, and perhaps it's some new fashion.
+
+I declare it's worth while to sit at the window now and then, and see
+what is going on. I'm usually so busy at the back of the house, I don't
+know. But now Lavinia has taken to going to school with the boys, and
+they are willing to take care of her, half my work seems taken out of my
+hands. Not that she was much in the way for a girl of four, but she
+might slip out of the gate at any time, as there are so many of those
+grinding organs around with their monkeys.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Carruthers was in yesterday afternoon, and she said the Peebles
+were looking up the numbers on the doors to find the Wylies. They got
+puzzled because the numbers go up one side of the street and down the
+other, and they haven't but just been put on. And it seems that up in
+the city they have them go across. It does appear to me shiftless in our
+town officers, when they undertook to have the streets numbered as they
+do elsewhere, that they didn't number them the same way. But I can't see
+but our way is as good, and more sensible than having to cross a muddy
+street to look up the next number.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Artemas has been gone a whole week. I told him I would put down the most
+important things in a diary, and then he can look at it, if he has time,
+when he comes home. He thinks it is a more sensible way than writing
+letters every week.
+
+He expects to be up and down in Texas, and perhaps across the mountains;
+and in those lawless countries letters would not stand much
+chance,--maybe they wouldn't ever reach him, after I'd had the trouble
+of writing them. There's the expense of stamps too,--not so very much
+for one letter, but it counts up.
+
+Nothing worries me more than getting a letter, unless it's having a
+telegraph come,--and that does give one a start. But even that's sooner
+over and quicker read; while for a letter, it's long, and it takes a
+good while to get to the end. I feel it might be a kind of waste of time
+to write in my diary; but not more than writing letters, and it saves
+the envelopes and hunting them up. I'm not likely to find much time for
+either, for the boys are fairly through their winter suits; if I can
+only keep them along while the spring hangs off so.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Norris was in yesterday, just as I was writing about the boys'
+suits, to know if I would let Martha off to work for her after the
+washing is over. I told her I didn't like to disoblige, but I couldn't
+see my way clear to get along without Martha. The boys ought to be
+having their spring suits this very minute, and Martha was calculating
+to make them this week; and they'd have to have their first wear of them
+Sundays for a while before they start on them for school. I never was so
+behindhand; but what with fitting off Artemas and the spring cleaning
+being delayed, I didn't seem to know how to manage. Martha is good at
+making over, and there are two very good coats of Artemas's that she
+would do the right thing by; while there was a good many who could scrub
+and clean as well as she,--there was that Nora that used to live at
+Patty's. But Mrs. Norris did not take to Nora. The Wylies tried her, but
+could make nothing out of her. I said I thought it would be hard to find
+the person Mrs. Wylie could get on with. Not that I ever knew anything
+about her till she came to live on our street last winter, but they do
+say she's just as hard on her own family; for there's a story that she
+won't let that pretty daughter of hers, Clara, marry Bob Prince's son,
+Larkin.
+
+Mrs. Norris said she didn't wonder, for Larkin Prince hadn't found
+anything to do since he came home. I thought there was enough to live
+upon in the Wylie family, even if Larkin didn't find something the first
+minute he'd got his education.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I can see that Mrs. Norris didn't take it well that I was not willing to
+give up Martha; but I don't really see why I should be the one to give
+up. But I must say I haven't got on as well with the work as I had
+hoped, Lavinia's going with the boys so much keeps her clothes half torn
+off her back, and I can't seem to see how to make her tidy. I was real
+ashamed when I went to lift her out of a mud-puddle yesterday outside
+the gate; and there was Clara Wylie looking as clean as a white lily,
+and she stopped to help her out. It seemed that Lavinia had left her
+boot in the last mud-puddle, and I would have liked to have gone through
+the ground. I hope it will be a lesson to Lavinia, for Miss Wylie
+oughtn't to have touched her with her hand. But she did, yellow gloves
+and all, and said it was dreadful walking now, the frost so late coming
+out of the ground, and she had quite envied Lavinia running across the
+fields after the boys. But Lavinia has taken to envying Miss Wylie, and
+wishes she could wear that kind of boots she has, with high heels that
+keep her out of the mud-puddles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am thinking of having my ruby cashmere colored over. I don't seem to
+feel like ripping it all up, pleatings and all; but Mrs. Peebles says
+it can be dipped just as well made up, and I needn't take out a seam.
+I might have it a kind of dark olive, like Mrs. Carruthers' dress.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have had a start! It is a letter from Artemas; nothing particular
+about himself, only I should say he was well. But he wants to take
+out a young man farther west with him,--somebody with something of an
+education, who understands chemicals or engineering, and he wants me to
+pick out somebody. There's my brother Sam, of course. I thought of him
+the first thing. But Artemas never took to Sam, though he is my brother.
+Still, I dare say he would do right by him. And Sam don't seem to find
+the work here that suits, and I hate to have him hanging round. But he
+don't know more than I about chemicals, as much as even what they are,
+though I dare say he could find out, for Sam is smart and always could
+make out if he chose to lay his hands to anything. And I dare say
+Artemas thought of Sam, and that is why he sent to me to give him a
+chance. From what he says it must be a pretty good chance, exactly what
+Sam would like if he knew anything about the business. I dare say he'd
+do quite as well as half the fellows who might go. He can be steady if
+he's a mind to.
+
+But I can't but think of Larkin Prince; how he's taken all the pains to
+get an education, and his father for him laying up money for the very
+purpose, and that pretty Clara Wylie waiting to be married till he
+should get something fit to do, and maybe her father wanting to marry
+her off to some rich man while she's waiting, when her heart is set on
+Larkin. And he'd be just the man for Artemas, seeing as he's been
+studying just such things.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It wasn't no use taking up the time writing in my diary, as Artemas must
+have a telegraph before night, and the boys home from school to know if
+they might go to the swamp after checkerberries, and Lavinia with them,
+and I let her go, clean apron and all, and I put on my bonnet to go over
+to Mrs. Prince's. It made my heart bump to think how much Sam would set
+on having the situation, and Artemas kind of expecting him; but I said
+to myself, if Larkin should be out of town, or anything, that would
+settle the matter for Sam.
+
+As it happened, who should I meet but Larkin just at the gate! and I
+asked him if he would turn back and step in with me for a minute. He
+looked kind of provoked, and I shouldn't wonder if he hadn't expected to
+meet Clara Wylie coming out of her gate just below, as it's natural she
+should at this time. But he came in, and I gave him Artemas's letter to
+read, for there wasn't anything in it except particulars of the work. He
+quite started as he read it, and then he looked at me inquiring, and I
+asked him if he had the kind of knowledge Artemas wanted. I supposed he
+might have it, as he'd been to the new schools. It told in the letter
+about the expenses, and what the pay would be, and where he would find
+the free pass, and that he'd have to telegraph right off, and perhaps he
+noticed he'd have to start to-night. Well, I guess he needn't care even
+to thank me; for that look in his face was enough, and I shan't forget
+it. He wanted to know was it Artemas thought of him. But before I could
+answer, he saw somebody out in the street, and went to rushing out, only
+he gave me another of those looks as he went, and said he'd see me
+before he sent the telegraph, and would take any message from me to
+Artemas.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I hadn't more than time to write this yesterday, when Mrs. Norris came
+in to inquire about some garden seeds, but I guess she expected to find
+out what Larkin Prince had been in for, for she was calling over at Mrs.
+Carruthers'. I offered her some squash seeds, and took her out the back
+way, through the garden, to show her how the squashes were likely to
+spread. Last summer they were all over the garden. It seems the only
+thing the boys let to grow.
+
+She hadn't more than gone when Larkin came in. It was all settled, and
+other things seemed to be settled too; for who should come in with him
+but Clara Wylie, crying and smiling all at once. She had to come and
+help Larkin to thank me because he had got the place. After he was gone
+she came back for a little cry. She didn't seem to wonder that Larkin
+was the one chosen, and supposed Artemas must have known all about him,
+she said, as well as the company he is working for. They probably had
+seen his name in the papers, she thought, when he graduated so honorably
+from the school.
+
+I didn't tell her that there wasn't any company; that Artemas never had
+time to read that kind of thing in the newspapers, and would not have
+noticed it if he had; and that he'd left it all to me.
+
+I can't but say after it was all settled I had a kind of a turn myself,
+to think that Sam might have gone just as well, and I had been standing
+in his way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I shall have to let down Lavinia's gowns full two inches this summer.
+Lucky I put tucks in them all last year. Mrs. Carruthers wanted me to
+finish them off with a frill; lucky I didn't, it would have been up to
+her ears this summer. As for the boys, I can take them in turn,--last
+year's clothes for the next boy all the way down, and Cyrus can have his
+father's. But it seems harder to fit out Lavinia. The ruby cashmere is
+as good for me as new; it is dipped.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I'm real sorry about the Jones's losing their cow; it comes hard for
+them. It's better for our potato patch, particularly if they do not have
+another. Cyrus ought to fence it in.
+
+Sam came in last night. He had heard that Larkin Prince was summoned off
+by a company out West, for work that would pay, and would set him up for
+years, and he had a free pass, and old Wylie had given his consent to
+his marrying Clara. Some people, he said, had luck come to them without
+trying for it, just standing round. There was he himself had been
+looking for just such work last year, and nobody had thought of him.
+
+       *      *       *       *       *
+
+I hope I wasn't hard on Sam. I couldn't help telling him if he'd gone up
+to the schools, as Larkin Prince did, and he might have done, he could
+have made himself fit for an engineer or a chemical agent. Well, it took
+him kind of surprised, and I agreed to go round this evening, when
+father is at home, and talk to father and mother about Sam's going to
+some of them schools. At least he might try; and, anyhow, it would get
+him out of the kind of company he's taken a fancy to.
+
+I must say I didn't think of how he'd feel about Clara Wylie; but, of
+course, her father would never have given Sam any encouragement more
+than Larkin. And as for Clara Wylie--well, I saw her look at Larkin
+that night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I don't know but I made a mistake in sending so many of his woollen
+socks to Artemas by Larkin Prince. Perhaps I had better have sent more
+of the cotton ones. Larkin said he would tell him we were all well, and
+how he found us. Lavinia had gone up to bed, and was hollering to me
+to come up to her, and Cyrus slung Silas's cap into the window, and it
+most hit Larkin; Silas came in after it through the window, and the rest
+of the boys were pounding on the barn door, where they were having a
+militia meeting, or some kind of a parade, with half the boys in town.
+So Artemas will know things goes on about as usual.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An excellent sermon from Mr. Jenkins today. I can't seem to think what
+it was about, to put it down; but we are all of us more and more pleased
+with him as a minister. You can't expect all things of any man; and if
+a minister preaches a good sermon twice a Sunday and perhaps at evening
+meeting, and goes around among the people as much as Mr. Jenkins, and
+holds meetings through the week, and Bible class every Friday evening,
+and sits by the bedside of the sick and the dying, and gives a hand in
+his own farming or a neighbor's, and stands on the committee for the
+schools, I don't know as you can expect much more of him.
+
+Mrs. Carruthers says there's a talk of the Peebles moving up to the city
+for good and all. I should think they might as well go as careening back
+and forth, spring and fall; though she says they will still go down to
+the seashore or up to the mountains, summers. When I had a home, I will
+say, I liked to stay in it.
+
+There, now! I do believe that I have not mentioned in my diary that our
+house is burned down, and much as ever we all got out alive, coming in
+the night so. I suppose I ought to have put it in as being one of the
+principal events; but somehow I have been so unsettled since the fire, I
+haven't seemed to think to write it down. And, of course, Artemas would
+see from the depot, the minute he arrived, that the house wasn't there,
+and he wouldn't need to wait and read about it in my diary; and I have
+been pretty busy getting set to rights again. Everything being burnt,
+there 's all the summer clothes to be made over again, except a few
+things I brought off in a bundle along with the diary. Still, it might
+have been better than writing about my neighbors, as I did about the
+Peebles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Jenkins came in as I was writing. He says that diaries are good
+things, and if you didn't put in only your thoughts in a sentimental
+kind of way, they'd be useful for posterity. I told him I didn't write
+for posterity, but for Artemas, instead of a letter. He was surprised
+I hadn't written him about the fire, as the news might reach him
+exaggerated. I could not help from laughing, for I don't see how it
+could be made out much worse,--the house burnt down, and the barn with
+the horse in it, and Cyrus's crop of squashes. Much as ever we got out
+alive, and I had to come to rooms--two pair, back. I did bring the diary
+out in my apron.
+
+Mr. Jenkins spoke of the insurance, and maybe Artemas might have
+something to say about that; but we talked it all over the night before
+he went away, and he spoke of the insurance being out, and he didn't
+think it worth while to renew; there never had been a fire, and it
+wasn't likely there would be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Carruthers came in to inquire when was a good time to try out soap.
+I told her I managed generally to do it when Artemas wasn't at home, as
+he was not partial to the smell in the house. But Mr. Carruthers never
+does go away, and she doesn't believe he'd notice it. I don't know but
+I'd rather have my husband coming and going like Artemas, instead of
+sticking around not noticing, especially if he was Mr. Carruthers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Clara Wylie has been with letters in her hands, and it seems she wrote
+to Larkin Prince all about our fire; how our boys dropped matches in the
+hay, and the fire spread to the house from the barn, and how we were
+waked up, and had to hurry out just as we were. I don't believe she told
+how the Wylies took us in that night, and found us these rooms at their
+aunt Marshall's till Artemas comes home. But it seems that Artemas has
+told Larkin it ain't no kind of consequence, the house burning down,
+because he never liked it facing the depot, and he'll be glad to build
+again, and has money enough for it, and can satisfy the neighbors if
+there's a complaint that our boys burned down all that side of the
+street, with being careless with their matches. And there was a note
+inclosed to me from Artemas. He says he'd had a kind of depressed time,
+when things were going wrong, but matters began to look up when Larkin
+Prince came, who had just the information needed. So it's just as well
+I didn't write about the fire. I hope Artemas don't talk too large about
+his earning so much; anyhow, I shall try to get along spending next to
+nothing, and earning what I can making buttonholes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I've made over my ruby cashmere for Lavinia, and I'm sorry now that
+I had it dyed over so dark, the olive is kind of dull for her; but I
+can't seem to lay my hand on anything else for her, and she must have
+something. Lucky it was lying on the chair, close by the door, so I
+brought it off from the fire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Artemas has come home.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK.
+
+I.
+
+
+"I don't see how we can ever get them back again," said Mr. Dyer.
+
+"Why should not we ask the 'grateful people'?" asked Jedidiah.
+
+To explain what Jedidiah and his father meant, I shall have to tell how
+it was Jedidiah came to have a Noah's Ark, and all about it, for it was
+a little odd.
+
+Jedidiah was the son of poor parents. His father lived in a small, neat
+house, and owned a little farm. It was not much of a place; but he
+worked hard, and raised vegetables upon it, mostly potatoes. But Mrs.
+Dyer liked string-beans and peas; so they had a few of these, and
+pumpkins, when the time came; but we have nothing to do with them at
+present. If I began to tell you what Mrs. Dyer liked, it would take a
+great while, because there are marrow-squashes and cranberry-beans,
+though she did not care so much for tomatoes; but vegetables do help
+out, and don't cost as much as butcher's meat, if you don't keep sheep;
+but hens Mrs. Dyer did keep. It was the potatoes that were most
+successful, for it was one summer when everybody's potatoes had failed.
+They had all kinds of diseases, especially at Spinville, near which Mr.
+Dyer lived. Some were rotten in the middle, some had specks outside;
+some were very large and bad, some were small and worse; and in many
+fields there were none at all. But Mr. Dyer's patch flourished
+marvellously. So, after he had taken in all he wanted for himself, he
+told his wife he was going to ask the people of Spinville to come and
+get what they wanted.
+
+"Now, Mr. Dyer!" said his wife. She did not say much else; but what she
+meant was, that if he had any potatoes to spare, he had better sell them
+than give them away. Mr. Dyer was a poor man; why should not he make a
+little money?
+
+But Mr. Dyer replied that he had no cart and horse to take the potatoes
+to Spinville with, and no time either. He had agreed to mow the deacon's
+off-lot, and he was not going to disappoint the deacon, even if he
+should get a couple of dollars by it; and he wasn't going to let his
+potatoes rot, when all Spinville was in want of potatoes. So Mr. Dyer
+set to work, and printed in large letters on a sheet of paper these
+words: "All persons in want of potatoes, apply to J. Dyer, Cranberry
+Lane, Wednesday, the fifteenth, after seven o'clock, A.M. Gratis."
+
+The last word was added after Mr. Dyer had pasted the notice against the
+town hall of Spinville; for so many people came up to bother him with
+questions as to how much he was going to ask for his potatoes, that he
+was obliged to add this by way of explanation, or he would never have
+got to the deacon's off-lot Tuesday morning.
+
+Wednesday morning, Mrs. Dyer sat by the front window, with her darning.
+She had persuaded Mr. Dyer to wait till Wednesday; for as for having all
+the people tramping through the yard when the clean clothes were out,
+she couldn't think of it; and she might as well get through the ironing,
+then she could have an eye on them. And how provoked they'd all be to
+come down all that way to Cranberry Hollow, to find only a bin of
+potatoes to divide among them all.
+
+The little shed was full of potatoes, Mr. Dyer answered. And he had no
+idea many people would come, just the poorer ones; and as long as he had
+any potatoes to spare, he was willing they should take them.
+
+But, sure enough, as Mrs. Dyer said, what a procession came! Poor Mrs.
+Jones's little girl, with a bag; Tom Scraggs, with two baskets; the
+minister's son, with a wheelbarrow; and even rich Mr. Jones, the
+selectman, with a horse and cart. Boys and girls, and old women, and
+middle-sized men, and every kind of a vehicle, from a tin tipcart to
+Mrs. Stubbs's carry-all.
+
+Well, let them come, thought Mrs. Dyer. It would just show Mr. Dyer she
+was right, and he didn't often find that out. She should be disturbed by
+them soon enough when they found out that there was not more than half a
+potato apiece, and like enough, not that. Pretty business of Mr. Dyer,
+to take to giving away, when he had not more than enough to put into his
+own mouth, to say nothing of Jedidiah's! So she went on darning and
+thinking. What was her surprise, all of a sudden, to hear only shouts
+of joy as the people returned round the corner of the house! Poor Mrs.
+Jones's little girl gave a scream of delight as she held up her bag full
+of potatoes; the minister's son had hard work to push along his full
+wheelbarrow; rich Mr. Jones was laughing from the top of his piled-up
+cart; Tom Scraggs was trying to get help in carrying his baskets. Such
+a laughing, such fun, was never heard in Spinville, which is a sober
+place. And they all nodded to Mrs. Dyer, and gave shouts for Mr. Dyer,
+and offered Jedidiah rides in all their carts, those that had them, and
+asked Mrs. Dyer what they could do for her in Spinville. And Jedidiah
+tried to tell his mother, through the open window, how the more they
+took the potatoes out of the bin, the more there were left in it; and
+how everybody had enough, and went away satisfied, and had filled their
+pockets; and even one of the boys was planning a quill popgun for sliced
+potato, such as the worst boys had not dreamed of all summer. He was a
+bad boy from the Meadow.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dyer!" said Mrs. Dyer, all day, and again when he came home
+at night.
+
+Of course the Spinville people thought a great deal from this time of
+Mr. Dyer; and there was a town council held to consider what they should
+do to express their feelings to him. He had declined six times being
+made selectman, and he did not want to ring the bell as sexton. There
+did not seem to be anything in the way of an office they could offer him
+that he would accept.
+
+At last Mr. Jones suggested that the best way to please the father was
+to give something to the son. "Something for Jedidiah!" exclaimed Mr.
+Jones. "The next time I go to New York, I'll go to a toy-shop; I'll buy
+something for Jedidiah."
+
+So he did. He came home with the Noah's Ark. It was a moderate-sized
+ark, painted blue, as usual, with red streaks, and a slanting roof, held
+down with a crooked wire. It was brought to Jedidiah, one evening, just
+as he was going to bed; so the crooked wire was not lifted, for Mrs.
+Dyer thought he had better go to bed at his time and get up early and
+look at his ark. But he could not sleep well, thinking of his ark. It
+stood by his bedside, and all night long he heard a great racket inside
+of it. There was a roaring and a grunting and a squeaking,--all kinds of
+strange noises. In the moonlight he thought he saw the roof move; if the
+wire had not been so crooked it surely would have opened. But it didn't,
+not till he took it downstairs, and Mrs. Dyer had got out her
+ironing-board, that the animals might be spread out upon it; then
+Jedidiah lifted the roof.
+
+What a commotion there was then! The elephant on the top, and his trunk
+stretched out; in a minute or two he would have unfastened the wire; the
+giraffe's long neck was stretched out; one dove flew away directly, and
+some crows sat on the eaves. Mr. and Mrs. Dyer and Jedidiah started
+back, while the elephant with his trunk helped out some of the smaller
+animals, who stepped into rows on the ironing-board as fast as they were
+taken out.
+
+The cows were mooing, the cats mewing, the dogs barking, the pigs
+grunting. Presently Noah's head appeared, and he looked round for his
+wife; and then came Shem and Ham and Japheth with their wives. They
+helped out some of the birds,--white, with brown spots,--geese, and
+ducks. It took the elephant and Noah and all his sons to get the horses
+out, plunging and curvetting as they were. Some sly foxes got out of
+themselves, leaping from the roof to the back of a kneeling camel.
+
+Jedidiah's eyes sparkled with joy. Mrs. Dyer sat with folded hands, and
+said, "Why, Mr. Dyer!" And Mr. Dyer occasionally helped a stray donkey,
+whose legs were caught, or a turkey fluttering on the edge. At last a
+great roaring and growling was heard at the bottom of the ark. The
+elephant nodded his trunk to the giraffe; the camel was evidently
+displeased; Noah and his sons stood together looking up at the roof.
+
+"It's the wild animals," said Jedidiah.
+
+"If they should get out," thought Mrs. Dyer; "all the wild tigers and
+the lions loose in the house!" And she looked round to see if the closet
+door were open for a place of retreat.
+
+Mr. Dyer stepped up and shut the roof of the ark. It was in time; for a
+large bear was standing on his hind legs on the back of a lion, and was
+looking out. Noah and his family looked much pleased; the elephants
+waved their trunks with joy; the camels stopped growling.
+
+"I don't wonder they are glad to get out," said Jedidiah. "I do believe
+they have been treading down those wild animals all night."
+
+Mrs. Dyer wondered what they should do with the rest. Come Tuesday she
+would want her ironing-board,--perhaps baking-day, to set the pies on.
+
+"They ought to have some houses to live in, and barns," said Jedidiah.
+Then it was Mr. Dyer had said they could never get them back into the
+ark; and Jedidiah had said, "We might ask the 'grateful people,'"--for
+this was the name the inhabitants of Spinville went by in the Dyer
+family ever since the time of the potatoes.
+
+The story of their coming for the potatoes had been told over and over
+again; then how the "people" felt so grateful to Mr. Dyer. Mr. Dyer said
+he was tired of hearing about it. Mrs. Dyer thought if they meant to do
+anything to let Mr. Dyer see they were grateful, they had better not
+talk so much about it. But Jedidiah called them the "grateful people;"
+and it was he that caught the first glimpse of the procession when it
+came up with the ark, Mr. Jones at the head. He had some faith in them;
+so it was he that thought there ought to be a village built for Noah and
+his family; and when Mr. Dyer had some doubts about building it he
+suggested, "Let's ask the 'grateful people.'"
+
+What they did will be told in another chapter.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+ABOUT THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE AND THE WILD BEASTS.
+
+
+That very afternoon there was a great rush to see Jedidiah's Noah's Ark,
+and there was immense enthusiasm about it. Some brave ones opened the
+roof and looked in upon the growling wild animals. The girls liked the
+lambs the best; the boys were delighted with the foxes that jumped on
+the edge of the boat that formed the ark.
+
+In a day or two there was a flourishing little village built on a smooth
+place on the other side of Mr. Dyer's house. The minister's daughter had
+brought a little toy village she had with red roofs, and one of the men
+scooped out the houses, which were made of one block of wood, but could
+now accommodate Noah and his family, and each one picked out a house to
+match the color of his garments.
+
+Tom Stubbs built a barn of wooden bricks for the larger animals, and
+Lucy Miles brought a pewter bird-cage, with a door that would open and
+shut, for the birds. The elephant knocked out a brick with his trunk as
+soon as he went into the barn, but that made a good window for him to
+look out of. Jedidiah himself made the loveliest coop for the hen; and
+the boys had a nice time over a pond they dug in the mud, for the ducks.
+
+Indeed, it occupied Spinville for some time; and Noah, Shem, and Ham
+did not sit down much, but looked very busy. There was a fence built
+round the whole village, high enough to keep in the elephants and the
+giraffes, though they could look over. There was a bit of pasture-land
+shut in for the cows, who fell to nibbling as soon as they were put in
+it. A clover-leaf lasted one of the sheep two days. The tinman sent
+some little tin dippers no bigger than a thimble, and the children were
+delighted to see the animals drink. The boys handed one of the dippers
+into the ark for the tigers. The giraffes found a bush just high enough
+for them to eat from. The doves sat on the eaves of the ark, and
+Agamemnon brought some pickled olives, as he had no olive-branch for
+them.
+
+The children were never tired of seeing the camels kneel and rise. They
+made them carry little burdens,--stones that were to be cleared from the
+field, chips from the henhouse. Sometimes the camels growled; then the
+children took off a chip or two from their burdens,--the last ounce,
+they thought.
+
+The "grateful people" sent a large umbrella, used by the umbrella-maker
+for a sign, that could be opened over the whole village in case of a
+rain; and the toy-shop man sent a tin teapot, though Mrs. Dyer did not
+venture to give Noah and his family any real tea; but it was a very
+pretty teapot, with a red flower upon it. Mrs. Noah liked it, though it
+was almost large enough for the whole family to get into.
+
+All this was not the work of a day, by any means. First, all Spinville
+had to come and look at the things, and then it had to discuss the whole
+affair. Mrs. Dyer's knitting got on bravely, for so many of her friends
+came in to sit in her best parlor, and talk it all over. Mrs. Dyer
+agreed with them; she thought it was all very strange. She should be
+thankful if only the tigers would never get out. She did not like having
+tigers running in and out of the house, even if they were no bigger than
+your thimble. She thought it quite likely some of the boys would let
+them out some day; but it was no use looking forward. So, day by day,
+the people came to look at the wonderful village. There was always
+something new to see. At last, one of the deacons declared Jedidiah
+ought to charge so much a sight. It was as good a show as the menagerie,
+any day; and everybody was willing to give ten cents for that, children
+half-price.
+
+This made great talk. Should Jedidiah charge for the show, or not? Mr.
+Dyer would have nothing to say about it. Mrs. Dyer thought they might as
+well; then there would be fewer children in her front yard picking at
+the currants. At last it was settled that Spinville should pay two cents
+a sight, children half-price, and strangers could see the village for
+nothing; but all those who had contributed anything towards the ark
+should have a right to visit it with their families, without paying.
+There was a great rush after this to see who was going to pay. It turned
+out only the schoolmaster's and doctor's families had to buy tickets;
+and when it came to that, Mr. Dyer said he would not let them pay
+anything. So Jedidiah did not gain much by it; but he and a few of his
+friends made some tickets, all the same, printing on them "Noah's Ark.
+Admittance, two cents; children, half-price;" and a good many children
+bought tickets for the fun of it.
+
+At last there came a crash. One afternoon, Tim Stubbs, in setting up a
+new pump, gave a knock to the ark, and sent the whole thing over. The
+roof snapped open, and out came all the wild beasts. The hyenas laughed,
+the lions roared, the bears growled, and the tigers leaped about to see
+whom they could devour; Noah jumped up on top of the pump; the elephant
+knocked out a side of the barn, to see what was the matter; all the
+wives ran for the houses, and there was a general confusion. A leopard
+seized a young chicken. Mrs. Dyer came out with a rolling-pin in her
+hand. Tim and Tom Stubbs declared they would catch the animals, if
+Jedidiah would only find something safe to put them in.
+
+"If we only had a cave!" exclaimed Lucy Miles, who had hidden behind the
+kitchen door.
+
+Tim and Tom Stubbs caught one of the tigers, just as Jedidiah appeared
+with his mother's bandbox. He had thrown his mother's caps and her
+Sunday bonnet on the spare-room floor. They shut the tiger up in the
+bandbox, then found one of the bears climbing up the pump after Noah.
+Jedidiah brought a strong string, and tied him to a post. All the rest
+of the boys ran away at first, but ventured to come back and join in the
+search for the rest of the beasts.
+
+The hunt grew quite exciting. One of the boys, who had read African
+travels, prepared a leash of twine, and made a lasso, and with this he
+succeeded in catching the two hyenas. Then no one knew if all the beasts
+were caught or no. The boy who had read the travels could tell a long
+list of wild animals that ought to be in the ark. There was the
+rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the jaguar; there was the leopard, the
+panther, the ocelot. Mrs. Dyer put her hands up to her ears in dismay.
+She could not bear to hear any more of their names; and to think she
+might meet them any day, coming in at the wood-house door, or running
+off with one of the chickens!
+
+But the Stubbses thought very likely all these animals never were in
+this ark at all, though they might have been in the original Noah's Ark.
+This was only a play ark, after all, and you could not expect to find
+every animal in it. The minister's wife said she did not know what you
+should expect. The ark was quite a different one from any she had seen.
+She had bought them for her children, year in and year out, and she had
+never seen anything of the sort. You might expect a hippopotamus, or any
+kind of beast. Those she had bought were always of wood, and the legs
+broke off easily. You could mend them with Spalding's Glue; but even
+Spalding was not as good as it used to be, and you could not depend
+upon it.
+
+Meanwhile the hunt went on. The Spinville people began to be sorry they
+had ever bought a Noah's Ark. They had expected nothing of the sort. At
+last the two leopards were found,--beautiful creatures, who lashed their
+tails wildly; and before long, two hippopotami were discovered in the
+duck-pond, wallowing in their native element. They were very fierce and
+wild, and were caught with great difficulty. These were put in the
+bandbox with the others. It was a strong, old-fashioned box; but it was
+feared it would not last long for the wild beasts. Jedidiah tied it up
+with some twine, and it was put for the present in the spare-room
+closet.
+
+Mrs. Dyer did not sleep well that night, though her doors had been shut
+all day. She dreamed she heard lions all the night long, and was sure a
+rhinoceros could get in at the window. Why had Mr. Dyer ever been so
+generous with his potatoes? Why had he invited all the people to come?
+Of what use had the Noah's Ark been? Jedidiah had got along without toys
+before; now his head was turned. Better for him to amuse himself digging
+potatoes, or seeing to the squashes, than meddling with the beasts.
+
+And there were the Spinville boys round before breakfast. They were
+there, indeed, and began again their search for the beasts. The girls
+sat at the chamber windows, watching the chase. Under a cabbage-leaf,
+fast asleep, the stray tiger was found. The boy learned in Natural
+History went over the terrible list of all the fierce animals. "Yes,
+there were ocelots and cougars and jaguars, peculiarly shy and
+stealthy in approaching their prey," so the book said. "There was the
+chibiguasu----" But Jedidiah said he didn't believe _his_ Noah
+cared for such out-of-the-way beasts; they must have come in since his
+ark. They had enough to do to catch the regular wild animals, and these
+at last they found in some number. They were all seized, and with
+difficulty put into a wooden lozenge-box. There was great delight; there
+must be all; the ark surely could have held no more. Lions, tigers,
+leopards, panthers, lynxes, wildcats,--all the animals necessary for
+a respectable ark, all in twos.
+
+But, oh horror! a jaguar was discovered, also, at the last moment just
+before school. One jaguar, and there must be another somewhere. The one
+found answered the description completely: "the body yellow, marked with
+open black figures, considerable variety in the marking." A stray jaguar
+in Spinville! so fierce a beast! No one could be sure of his footsteps.
+Noah, his sons and their wives, had not been unmoved. Their satisfaction
+had been great. They had carried water to the bears, and had looked much
+pleased; and now they shook their heads at seeing only one jaguar.
+
+"I think they must be all caught but that one jaguar," said Jedidiah.
+"They look satisfied, and are going about their daily work; and it is
+time we found some place for the wild beasts. They will come through
+mother's bandbox before long."
+
+The boys went to school. There was great consultation all that day,
+which ended in Tom Stubbs bringing a squirrel-cage. It was just the
+thing, for the wires were near enough to keep the animals in, and
+everybody could have a look at them. But how were they to be got into
+the squirrel-cage? There came a new question. Tim Stubbs remembered he
+had often caught a butterfly under his hat, and a very handsome
+butterfly, too, and he was sure he had him; but just as he lifted the
+brim of the hat to show the other fellows that he was really there, the
+butterfly would be off.
+
+Happily there was no afternoon school, and a grand council of the
+boys was held, assisted by some of the selectmen. The beasts in the
+lozenge-box were easily disposed of, for it had a sliding cover, which
+was dexterously raised high enough to let the beasts all into the
+squirrel-cage. Then handy Tim Stubbs punched a hole in the bandbox
+opposite to the entrance of the squirrel-cage, and one by one the
+leopards and the rest were allowed to make their way into the wiry
+prison. The tiger made a dash, but in vain; he was imprisoned like the
+rest.
+
+This is our last news from Spinville.
+
+It is more than a month since the Spinville stage set out on its weekly
+trip for that place. It was an old stage; the horses were old, the
+harness was old, the driver was old. It is not then to be wondered
+at that in crossing the bridge on the old road, which is so little
+travelled that it is never kept in repair, the old wheel was caught in
+a chink between the boards, the old coach tumbled over, the driver was
+thrown from his seat and broke his leg, the horses fell on their knees,
+and the whole concern was made a complete wreck.
+
+Now, the stage-driver was the owner of the old coach and team. He had
+always said the thing did not pay; he would give it all up. Indeed, he
+only had driven to Spinville once a week to see the folks himself.
+Nobody ever went there, and nobody ever came away, except once a year
+Mr. Jones, and he had a team of his own. So there is no communication
+with Spinville. That a jaguar is loose is the latest news.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+CARRIE'S THREE WISHES.
+
+
+Carrie Fraser was a great trouble to her mother, because she was always
+wishing for something she had not got.
+
+"The other girls always have things that I don't," she complained to her
+mother. Her mother tried to explain to Carrie that she had a great many
+things the other girls didn't have.
+
+"But they are not always wishing for my things, just as I wish for
+theirs."
+
+"That is because they are not such 'teasers' as you are," her mother
+would reply. "You do not hear them from morning till night teasing for
+things they have not got."
+
+Another thing in Carrie troubled her mother very much. She used a
+great many extravagant phrases. She was not satisfied with saying even
+"perfectly lovely," "splendid," "excruciatingly jolly." Her mother might
+have permitted these terms, and was used to hearing the other girls use
+them; but Carrie got hold of the strangest expressions and phrases, I am
+afraid to put them into this story; for every boy and girl is perhaps
+already too familiar with such, and I might only spread the use of them.
+
+I will mention that "bang-up" and "bumptious," and that class of
+expressions were her favorites, and the best-educated boy or girl will
+be able to imagine the rest. This story will show how a careless use of
+words brought Carrie to grief, and taught her a severe lesson.
+
+One day, as usual, she had been complaining, and wishing she could have
+everything she wanted. Her mother said: "You remember the old story of
+the old couple who had their three wishes granted, and how they never
+got any good from it."
+
+"But that was because they acted like such geese," exclaimed Carrie. "I
+could never have been so elephantinely idiotic! First, they wasted one
+wish, for a black pudding."
+
+"That is a sausage," said her mother.
+
+"Yes, they asked for a common, every-day sausage to come down the
+chimney; then they got into a fight, and wished it would settle on one
+of their noses; and then they had to waste their last wish, by wishing
+it off again! It is too bad to have such luck come to such out-and-out
+idiots."
+
+Mrs. Fraser was just setting out for the village street, to order the
+dinner. The Governor was expected to pass through the place, and was to
+be met at the Town Hall. Jimmy, the only son in the family, had gone off
+to see the show.
+
+"Now, if he were a real, genuine governor," said Carrie, "like a prince
+in a fairytale, you would go and beseech him to grant your wishes. You
+would fall on your knees, or something, and he would beg you to rise,
+and your lovely daughter should have all that she wished."
+
+"I am afraid you are very foolish," sighed Mrs. Fraser; "but I will see
+the Governor. Perhaps he can advise what is best."
+
+It seemed to Carrie as if her mother were gone a great while. "She might
+have got six dinners!" she exclaimed to herself. "How tiresome! I wish I
+had gone down myself, anyway. All the girls and boys have gone, and I
+might have seen the Governor."
+
+But she passed the time in rocking backward and forward in a
+rocking-chair; for to her other faults Carrie added that of laziness,
+and when the other girls had gone down town, and had urged her to go
+with them, she had been quite too lazy to go for her hat or to hunt up
+her boot button-hook.
+
+"It seems as if Jimmy might have come back to tell about things," she
+went on. "Oh dear me! if I had only a chariot and four to go down with,
+and somebody to dress me and find my boots and my hat and my gloves,
+then it would have been worth while to go. I mean to make out a list of
+wishes, in case somebody should grant me the power to have them."
+
+She took out a little blank-book from her pocket, and began to write
+down:--
+
+"1. A chariot and four, man to drive, striped afghan, etc.
+
+"2. Maid to find and put on hat, boots, etc.
+
+"3. Plenty of hats, boots, and gloves for the maid to put on, and so
+that they could be found when wanted."
+
+"That would be bully!" said Carrie, interrupting herself. "If I had
+gloves in every drawer and on every shelf, I should not have to be
+looking for them. I might have a hat on every peg in the house except
+what Jimmy uses. I might have a sack over the back of every chair, and
+gloves in the pockets of each. The boots could be in each corner of the
+room and on all the top shelves. But boot-hooks! there's the stunner!
+Where could one find boot-buttoners enough? They do get out of the way
+so! I should have six in every drawer, one in each pocket, half a dozen
+in Mamma's basket, a row on the mantelpiece--on all the mantelpieces.
+Then perhaps I could do without a maid; at least, save her up till I
+grow older. Let's see. That makes three wishes. They generally have
+three. If I strike out the maid, I can think of something else. Suppose
+I say something to eat, then. Chocolate creams! I never had enough yet."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Fraser returned, looking quite heated and
+breathless. She had to fling herself into a chair by the window to
+recover strength enough to speak, and then her words came out in gasps.
+
+Carrie did leave her rocking-chair and tried fanning her mother, for she
+saw she had something to say.
+
+"What is it? What have you seen? Have you got something slam-bang for
+me? Is the Governor coming here? Couldn't you raise any dinner?"
+
+Carrie's questions came out so fast that her mother never could have
+answered them, even with the breath of a Corliss engine; much less,
+panting as she was now.
+
+"Yes, I saw him; I managed to see him," she gasped out. "The guns were
+firing, the cannon were booming, the bells were ringing----"
+
+"Oh! I dare say! I dare say!" cried Carrie, eager to hear more. "I could
+hear them up here. That was not worth going to town for. What did the
+Governor say?"
+
+"My dear! my dear!" panted Mrs. Fraser, "he said you could have your
+three wishes."
+
+"What! The chariot and four (that means horses), the maid, and the
+boot-hooks,--no, the maid was scratched out,--not the chocolates?" asked
+Carrie, in wonder.
+
+"No, no! I don't know what you mean!" said Mrs. Fraser; "but you can
+have three wishes; and I have hurried home, for they are to be told as
+the clock strikes twelve,--one to-day, one to-morrow, one the next
+day,--the moment the clock strikes, and I am only just in time. You are
+to wish, and you will have just what you wish."
+
+Both Carrie and her mother looked at the clock. The hand was just
+approaching twelve. Carrie could hear a little "click" that always came
+from inside the clock before it struck.
+
+"I have written out my wishes," she hurried to say; "but I don't want
+the chariot yet, because everybody is coming back from town. And I don't
+want any more hats and boots just now. But, oh! I do want some chocolate
+creams, and I wish this room was 'chock full of them.'"
+
+As she spoke the clock struck; and when it stopped she could speak no
+more, for the room was as full of chocolate creams as it could hold.
+They came rattling down upon her head, filling in all the crannies of
+the room. They crowded into her half-open mouth; they filled her
+clutching hands. Luckily, Mrs. Fraser was sitting near the open window,
+and the chocolate creams pushed her forward upon the sill. There were
+two windows looking upon the piazza. One was made of glass doors that
+were shut; the other, fortunately, was quite low; and Mrs. Fraser seated
+herself on the edge, and succeeded in passing her feet over to the other
+side, a torrent of chocolate creams following her as she came. She then
+turned to see if she could help Carrie. Carrie was trying to eat her way
+toward the window, and stretched out her arms to her mother, who seized
+her, and with all her strength pulled her through the window.
+
+"They are bully!" exclaimed Carrie, as soon as she was free. "They are
+the freshest I ever ate. Golumptious!"
+
+"Oh, Carrie," said her mother, mournfully, "how can you use such
+expressions now, when you have wasted your opportunity in such an
+extravagant wish?"
+
+"What! A whole roomful of chocolate creams do you consider a waste?"
+exclaimed Carrie. "Why, we shall be envied of all our neighbors; and,
+Mamma, you have been sighing over our expenses, and wishing that Jimmy
+and I could support you. Do not you see that we can make our fortune
+with chocolate creams? First, let us eat all we want before telling
+anybody; then let us give some to choice friends, and we will sell the
+rest."
+
+All the time she was talking Carrie was putting in her hand for
+chocolate creams and cramming one after another. Mrs. Fraser, too, did
+not refuse to taste them. How could they ever get into the parlor again,
+unless they were eaten up?
+
+"I am sure we can make quite a fortune," Carrie went on. "As soon as
+Jimmy comes home we can calculate how much it will be. The last time I
+was in Boston I gave fifteen cents for a quarter of a pound, and there
+were just thirteen chocolate creams. Now, see. In my two hands I can
+hold fourteen; now, how many times that do you suppose there are in the
+room?"
+
+Mrs. Fraser could not think. Carrie was triumphant.
+
+"Jimmy will know how to calculate, for he knows how many feet and inches
+there are in the room. If not, he can measure by the piazza; and we can
+row the chocolate creams out, and see how many go to a foot, and then we
+can easily find out. Of course, we shall sell them cheaper than they do
+in Boston, and so there will be a rush for them. It will be bully!"
+
+"I am glad we happened to take this rocking-chair out on the piazza this
+morning," said Mrs. Fraser, languidly seating herself. "I don't see how
+we shall ever get into the parlor again."
+
+"Jimmy and I will eat our way in fast enough," said Carrie, laughing;
+and Jimmy at that moment appeared with two boy friends, whom he had
+brought home to dinner.
+
+They were all delighted when they understood the situation, and had soon
+eaten a little place by the window, inside the room.
+
+"I quite forgot to buy any dinner," exclaimed Mrs. Fraser, starting up.
+"I meant to have ordered a leg of mutton as I went down, and now it is
+too late; and eggs for a pudding. Jimmy will have to go down----"
+
+"Oh, the chocolate creams will do!" exclaimed Carrie. "Don't you see,
+there's our first saving, and my wish does not turn out so extravagant,
+after all. The boys will be glad to have chocolate creams for dinner,
+I'm sure."
+
+The boys all said they would, as far as they could, when their mouths
+were so full.
+
+"We must put out an advertisement," said Carrie, at last, as soon as she
+could stop to speak: "'Chocolate creams sold cheap!' I guess we won't
+give any away. We may as well make all we can. It will be geminy!
+Suppose we look up some boxes and baskets, Jimmy, to sell them in; and
+you boys can go to the gate and tell people there are chocolate creams
+for sale."
+
+But all the boxes and baskets were soon filled, and only a little space
+made in the room. Jimmy pulled out the other rocking-chair that Carrie
+had been sitting in, and she rested herself for a while.
+
+"I declare, I never thought before I could eat enough chocolate creams;
+but they are a trifle cloying."
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Fraser, "if you had not said 'chock full;' if you
+had said 'a great many,' or 'a trunkful,' or something of that sort."
+
+"But I meant 'chock full,'" insisted Carrie.
+
+"I did not mean quite up to the ceiling. I didn't suppose that was what
+'chock' meant. Now we know."
+
+A great shouting was heard. All the boys of the town were gathering, and
+quite a crowd of people seemed coming near.
+
+Mrs. Fraser was a widow, and there was no man in the house. Jimmy was
+the nearest approach to a man that she could depend upon; and here he
+was, leading a band of boys! She sent one of the boys she knew the best
+for Mr. Stetson, the neighboring policeman, who came quickly, having
+already seen the crowd of boys flocking to the house.
+
+Carrie was trying to sell off her boxes for fifteen, ten, even five
+cents; but the crowd could not be easily appeased, for the boys could
+see across the windows the chocolate creams closely packed. "The room is
+chock full!" they exclaimed.
+
+Mr. Stetson examined the premises. "You'll find it hard work to get
+them chocolates out in a week, even if you set all the boys on them. I'd
+advise letting them in one by one to fill their pockets, each to pay
+a cent."
+
+Even Carrie assented to this, and a line was formed, and boys let in
+through the window. They ate a way to the door that led into the entry,
+so that it could be opened and the room could be entered that way. The
+boys now went in at the window and came out at the door, eating as they
+went and filling their pockets. Carrie could not but sigh at thought of
+the Boston chocolates, more than a cent apiece! But the boys ate, and
+then the girls came and ate; but with night all had to leave, at last.
+It was possible to shut the window and lock it, and shut the door for
+the night, after they had gone.
+
+"I don't see why the chocolates should not stay on there weeks and
+weeks," said Carrie to her mother. "Of course, they won't be so fresh,
+day after day; but they will be fresher than some in the shops. I'm
+awfully tired of eating them now, and feel as if I never wanted to see
+a chocolate cream again; but I suppose I shall feel different after a
+night's sleep, and I think Mr. Stetson is wrong in advising us to sell
+them so low."
+
+Mrs. Fraser suggested she should like to go in the parlor to sit.
+
+"But to-morrow is the day of the picnic," said Carrie, "and we shall be
+out-of-doors anyhow. I will take chocolate creams for my share. But,
+dear me! my dress is on the sofa,--my best dress. You were putting the
+ruffles in!"
+
+"I told you, my dear, one of the last things, to take it upstairs," said
+Mrs. Fraser.
+
+"And there it is, in the furthest corner of the room," exclaimed Carrie,
+"with all those chocolates scrouching on it. I'll tell you. I'll get Ben
+Sykes in early. He eats faster than any of the other boys, and he shall
+eat up toward my dress. He made a great hole in the chocolates this
+afternoon. I will have him come in early, and we don't go to the picnic
+till after twelve o'clock."
+
+"And at twelve o'clock you have your second wish," said Mrs. Fraser.
+
+"Yes, Mamma," said Carrie; "and I have already decided what it shall
+be,--a chariot and four. It will come just in time to take me to the
+picnic."
+
+"Oh, my dear Carrie," said her mother, "do think what you are planning!
+Where would you keep your chariot and the four horses?"
+
+"Oh! there will be a man to take care of them," said Carrie; "but I will
+think about it all night carefully----"
+
+At that very moment she went to sleep.
+
+The next morning early, Carrie was downstairs. She found she could eat
+a few more chocolate creams, and Jimmy was in the same condition. She
+proposed to him her plan of keeping the chocolates still for sale, but
+eating a way to the sofa in the corner, to her best dress.
+
+Ben Sykes came early, and a few of the other boys. The rest were kept at
+home, because it turned out they had eaten too many and their parents
+would not let them come.
+
+A good many of the older people came with baskets and boxes, and bought
+some to carry away, they were so delicious and fresh.
+
+Meanwhile Ben Sykes was eating his way toward the corner. It was very
+hard making any passage, for as fast as he ate out a place others came
+tumbling in from the top. Carrie and Jimmy invented "a kind of a tunnel"
+of chairs and ironing-boards, to keep open the passage; and other boys
+helped eat, as they were not expected to pay.
+
+But the morning passed on. Mrs. Fraser tried to persuade Carrie to wear
+another dress; but she had set her mind on this. She had a broad blue
+sash to wear with it, and the sash would not go with any other dress.
+
+She watched the clock, she watched Ben; she went in under the
+ironing-boards, to help him eat, although she had begun to loathe the
+taste of the chocolate creams.
+
+Ben was splendid. He seemed to enjoy more the more he ate. Carrie
+watched him, as he licked them and ate with glowing eyes.
+
+"Oh, Ben," Carrie suddenly exclaimed, "you can't seem to eat them fast
+enough. I wish your throat were as long as from one end of this room to
+the other."
+
+At this moment the clock was striking.
+
+Carrie was ready to scream out her second wish; but she felt herself
+pushed in a strange way. Ben was on all fours in front of her, and now
+he pushed her back, back. His neck was so long that while his head was
+still among the chocolates, at the far corner of the room, his feet were
+now out of the door.
+
+Carrie stood speechless. She had lost her wish by her foolish
+exclamation. The faithful Ben, meanwhile, was flinging something through
+the opening. It was her dress, and she hurried away to put it on.
+
+When she came down, everybody was looking at Ben. At first he enjoyed
+his long neck very much. He could stand on the doorstep and put his head
+far out up in the cherry trees and nip off cherries, which pleased both
+the boys and himself.
+
+[Illustration: He enjoyed his long neck very much.]
+
+Instead of a chariot and four, Carrie went off in an open wagon, with
+the rest of the girls. It made her feel so to see Ben, with his long
+neck, that she got her mother's permission to spend the night with the
+friend in whose grounds the picnic was to be held.
+
+She carried baskets of chocolate creams, and she found numbers of the
+girls, who had not eaten any, who were delighted with them, and promised
+to come the next day, to buy and carry away any amount of them. She
+began to grow more cheerful, though she felt no appetite, and instead
+of eating everything, as she always did at picnics, she could not even
+touch Mattie Somers's cream-pie nor Julia Dale's doughnuts. She stayed
+as late as she could at her friend Mattie's; but she felt she must get
+home in time for her third wish, at twelve o'clock.
+
+Would it be necessary for her to wish that Ben Sykes's neck should be
+made shorter? She hoped she might find that it had grown shorter in the
+night; then she could do as she pleased about her third wish.
+
+She still clung to the desire for the chariot and four. If she had it,
+she and her mother and Jimmy could get into it and drive far away from
+everybody,--from Ben Sykes and his long neck, if he still had it,--and
+never see any of them any more. Still, she would like to show the
+chariot and four to her friends; and perhaps Ben Sykes would not mind
+his long neck, and would be glad to keep it and earn money by showing
+himself at a circus.
+
+So she reached home in the middle of the morning, and found the whole
+Sykes family there, and Ben, still with his long neck. It seems it had
+given him great trouble in the night. He had to sleep with his head in
+the opposite house, because there was not room enough on one floor at
+home. Mrs. Sykes had not slept a wink, and her husband had been up
+watching, to see that nobody stepped on Ben's neck. Ben himself appeared
+in good spirits; but was glad to sit in a high room, where he could
+support his head.
+
+Carrie suggested her plan that Ben should exhibit himself. He, no doubt,
+could earn a large sum. But his mother broke out against this. He never
+could earn enough to pay for what he ate, now his throat was so long.
+Even before this he could swallow more oatmeal than all the rest of the
+family put together, and she was sure that now even Mr. Barnum himself
+could not supply him with food enough. Then she burst into a flood of
+tears, and said she had always hoped Ben would be her stay and support;
+and now he could never sleep at home, and everybody looking after him
+when he went out, and the breakfast he had eaten that very morning was
+enough for six peoples' dinners.
+
+They were all in the parlor, where the chocolate creams were partially
+cleared away. They were in a serried mass on two sides of the room,
+meeting near the centre, with the underground passage, through which Ben
+had worked his way to Carrie's dress. Mrs. Fraser had organized a band
+to fill pasteboard boxes, which she had obtained from the village, and
+she and her friends were filling them, to send away to be sold, as all
+the inhabitants of the town were now glutted with chocolate creams.
+
+At this moment Carrie heard a click in the clock. She looked at her
+mother, and as the clock struck she said steadily, "I wish that Ben's
+neck was all right again."
+
+Nobody heard her, for at that moment Ben Sykes started up, saying: "I'm
+all right, and I have had enough. Come along home!" And he dragged his
+family away with him.
+
+Carrie fell into her mother's arms. "I'll never say 'chock full' again!"
+she cried; "and I'll always be satisfied with what I have got, for I can
+never forget what I suffered in seeing Ben's long neck!"
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+"WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"
+
+
+This was the cry in the Wilson family as they sat down to dinner.
+
+"It is odd," said Aunt Harriet. "I have noticed they are usually ready
+for their dinner. They may be out of the way at other times, but they
+always turn up at their meals."
+
+"They were here at breakfast," said Jane, the eldest daughter.
+
+"I helped Jack about his Latin before he went to school," said the
+mother of the family.
+
+"They are probably at the Pentzes'," said Gertrude. "If our boys are not
+there, the Pentzes are here; and as long as the Pentzes are not here, I
+suppose our boys are there."
+
+"I should say they were not likely to get so good a dinner at the
+Pentzes' as we have here," said Aunt Harriet, as a plate was set before
+her containing her special choice of rare-done beef, mashed potato,
+stewed celery, and apple-sauce.
+
+"Who are the Pentzes?" said Mr. Wilson, looking round the table to see
+if everybody was helped.
+
+"He is a painter and glazier," said Aunt Harriet, "and the mother takes
+in washing."
+
+"They are good boys," said Mrs. Wilson. "Jonas Pentz stands high in his
+class, and is a great help to our Sam. Don't you remember him? He is the
+boy that came and spent a night with Sam a week ago. They have their
+first lesson in 'Cæsar' this afternoon; perhaps they are studying up."
+
+"Jack always has to go where Sam does," said Gertrude.
+
+This was the talk at the Wilsons' table. The subject was much the same
+at the Pentzes'. There was a large family at the Wilsons'; so there was
+at the Pentzes'. Mrs. Pentz was ladling out some boiled apple-pudding to
+a hungry circle round her. But she missed two.
+
+"Where are Jonas and Dick?" she asked.
+
+A clamor of answers came up.
+
+"I saw Jonas and Dick go off with Sam Wilson after school, and Jack
+Wilson, and John Stebbins," said Will, one of the small boys.
+
+"You don't think Jonas and Dick both went to dine at the Wilsons'?" said
+Mrs. Pentz. "I should not like that."
+
+"I dare say they did," said Mary Pentz. "You know the Wilson boys are
+here half the time, and the other half our boys are at the Wilsons'."
+
+"Still, I don't like their going there for meal-times," said Mrs. Pentz,
+anxiously.
+
+"Jonas had a new lesson in 'Cæsar,'" said Mary Pentz. "I don't believe
+they planned to spend much time at dinner."
+
+But at supper-time no boys appeared at the Wilsons'. Mrs. Wilson was
+anxious. George, the youngest boy of all, said the boys had been home
+since afternoon school; he had seen Jack in the kitchen with John
+Stebbins.
+
+"Jack came to me for gingerbread," said Jane, "and I asked him where
+they had been, and John Stebbins said, with the Pentz boys. He said
+something about to-morrow being a holiday, and preparing for a lark."
+
+"I don't like their getting all their meals at the Pentzes'," said Mrs.
+Wilson, "and I don't much like John Stebbins."
+
+Again at the Pentzes' the talk was much the same.
+
+Mary Pentz reported the boys went through their 'Cæsar' recitation
+well; she had a nod of triumph from Jonas as he walked off with Sam
+Wilson. "They had their books, so I suppose they are off for study
+again."
+
+"I don't like their taking two meals a day at the Wilsons'," said Mrs.
+Pentz.
+
+"There's no school to-morrow," said Mary, "because the new furnace is to
+be put in. But I dare say the boys, Sam and Jonas, will be studying all
+the same."
+
+"I hope he won't be out late," said Mrs. Pentz.
+
+"He's more likely to spend the night at the Wilsons'," said Mary. "You
+know he did a week ago."
+
+"The boys were round here for a candle," said Will.
+
+"Then they do mean to study late," said Mrs. Pentz. "I shall tell him
+never to do it again; and with Dick, too!"
+
+Mr. Wilson came hurrying home for a late supper, and announced he must
+go to New York by a late train.
+
+"A good chance for you," he said to his wife, "to go and see your
+sister. You won't have more than a day with her, for I shall have to
+take the night train back, but it will give you a day's talk."
+
+Mrs. Wilson would like to go, but she felt anxious about the boys. "They
+have not been home for dinner or supper."
+
+"But they came home for gingerbread," said Aunt Harriet. "I suppose they
+didn't have too hearty a dinner at the Pentzes'."
+
+"Joanna says they went off with a basket packed up for to-morrow," said
+Gertrude.
+
+"If the Pentzes did not live so far off, I would send up," said Mrs.
+Wilson.
+
+"They will be in by the time we are off, or soon after," said Mr.
+Wilson. "It looks like rain, but it won't hurt us."
+
+Mrs. Wilson and he went, but no boys appeared all the evening.
+
+Aunt Harriet, who had not been long in the family, concluded this was
+the way boys acted.
+
+Jane sat up some time finishing a novel, and hurried off to bed,
+startled to find it so late, and waking up Gertrude to say, "It is odd
+those boys have not come home!"
+
+Why hadn't they?
+
+They couldn't.
+
+This is what happened.
+
+Wednesday afternoon, after school, the younger boys had gone to play
+at the old Wilson house, far away at the other end of the Main Street,
+beyond the Pentzes'. This was an old deserted mansion, where the Wilsons
+themselves had lived once upon a time. But it had taken a fortune and
+two furnaces to warm it in winter, and half a dozen men to keep the
+garden in order in summer, and it had grown now more fashionable to live
+at the other end of the town; so the Wilson family had moved down years
+ago, where the girls could see "the passing" and Mr. Wilson would be
+near his business. Of late years he had not been able to let the house,
+and it had been closely shut to keep it from the tramps. The boys had
+often begged the keys of their father, for they thought it would be such
+fun to take possession of the old house. But Mr. Wilson said, "No; if a
+parcel of boys found their way in, all the tramps in the neighborhood
+would learn how to get in too." Still, it continued the object of the
+boys' ambition to get into the house, and they were fond of going up to
+play in the broad grassy space by the side of the house; and they kept
+good oversight of the apple crop there.
+
+On this Wednesday afternoon they were playing ball there, and lost the
+ball. It had gone through a ventilation hole into the cellar part of the
+house.
+
+Now, everybody knows that if a boy loses a ball it must be recovered,
+especially if he knows where it is. There is not even a woman so
+stony-hearted but she will let in a troop of muddy-shoed boys through
+her entry (just washed) if they come to look for a ball, even if it
+has broken a pane of glass on its way. So the boys got a ladder from
+the Pentzes', and put it up at one of the windows where the blind was
+broken. Jack went up the ladder. The slat was off, but not in the right
+place to open the window. There could not be any harm in breaking off
+another; then he could reach the middle of the sash and pull up the
+window. No; it was fastened inside. John Stebbins tried, but it was of
+no use.
+
+"It would not help if we broke the window by the fastening," said John;
+"for the shutters are closed inside with old-fashioned inside shutters."
+
+Here was the time to ask for the key. They must have the key to find
+that ball, and the boys trudged back to meet Sam just going home from
+the Pentzes'.
+
+But Sam refused to ask for the key again, He didn't want to bother his
+father so soon, and he didn't want the bother himself. He had his new
+"Cæsar" lesson to study; to-morrow, after school, he and Jonas would
+look round at the house, and find some way to recover the ball, for even
+the stern and studious Sam knew the value of a ball.
+
+So Thursday noon the boys all hurried up to the Wilson house,--Sam,
+Jonas, and all. They examined it on every side. They came back to the
+hole where the ball was lost.
+
+"There's the cold-air box," said Jonas. "Could not Dick crawl in?"
+
+Now, Dick was a very small pattern of a boy, indeed, to be still a boy.
+Really he might crawl into the cold-air box. He tried it! He did get in!
+He had to squeeze through one part, but worked his way down fairly into
+the cellar, and screamed out with triumph that he had found the ball
+close by the hole! But how was Dick to get out again? He declared he
+could never scramble up. He slipped back as fast as he tried. He would
+look for the cellar stairs, only it was awful dark except just by the
+hole. He had a match in his pocket. Jack ran to the Pentzes' and got a
+candle, and they rolled it in to Dick, and waited anxiously to see where
+he would turn up next. They heard him, before long, pounding at a door
+round the corner of the house. He had found the cellar stairs, and a
+door with bolts and a great rusty key, which he succeeded in turning.
+The boys pulled at the door and it opened; and there stood Dick with the
+ball in one hand, picking up the candle with the other!
+
+What a chance to enter the house! Down the cellar stairs, up into the
+attics! Strange echoes in the great halls, and dark inside; for all the
+windows were closed and barred,--all but in one room upstairs that
+opened on a back veranda. It was a warm late-autumn day, and the sun
+poured down pleasantly upon a seat in the corner of the veranda, where
+a creeper was shedding its last gay leaves.
+
+"What a place to study!" exclaimed Sam.
+
+"Let's come and spend to-morrow," said John Stebbins; "there's no
+school."
+
+"No school Friday, on account of the furnace!" exclaimed Jack. "Let's
+bring a lot of provisions and stay the whole day here."
+
+"We might lay it in to-night," said John Stebbins; "we'll come up after
+school this afternoon!"
+
+"And I'll tell father about the key this evening," said Sam; "he won't
+mind, if he finds we have got one."
+
+"Jack and I will see to the provisions," said John Stebbins, "if the
+rest of you boys will come here as soon as school is over."
+
+It was all so interesting that they were too late for dinners, and had
+to content themselves with gingerbread as they hurried to school.
+
+"Be sure you tell mother," was Sam's last warning to Jack and John
+Stebbins, as they parted for their separate schoolrooms.
+
+After school the party hastened to the old house. Sam took the entry key
+from his pocket and opened the door, leaving Dick to wait for Jack and
+John Stebbins. They appeared before long with a basket of provisions,
+and were ready for a feast directly, but delayed for a further
+examination of the house. It was dark soon, and Sam would not let them
+stay long in any one room. They must just take a look, and then go
+home,--no waiting for a feast.
+
+"I'll talk to father this evening, and ask him if we may have it if we
+keep the whole thing secret."
+
+They fumbled their way down to the lower back door, but could not get it
+open. It was locked!
+
+"We left the key in the door outside," said Dick, in a low whisper.
+
+"You ninnies!" exclaimed Sam, "somebody saw you and has locked us in."
+
+"Some of the boys, to plague us," said John Stebbins.
+
+"Mighty great secrecy, now," said Sam, "if half the boys in town know we
+are here. It all comes of that great basket of provisions you saw fit to
+bring round."
+
+"You'll be glad enough of it," said John Stebbins, "if we have to spend
+the night here."
+
+"Let's have it now," said Jack.
+
+"We may as well occupy ourselves that way," said Sam, in a resigned
+tone, "till they choose to let us out."
+
+"Suppose we go up to the room with the bed and the sofa," said John
+Stebbins; "and we've got a surprise for you. There's a pie,--let's eat
+that."
+
+They stumbled their way back. The provident John Stebbins had laid in
+more candles, and they found an old table and had a merry feast.
+
+Sam and Jonas had their books. When Sam had hold of a fresh Latin book
+he could not keep away from it. Jonas's mind was busy with a new
+invention. The boys thought he would make his fortune by it. He was
+determined to invent some use for coal ashes. They were the only things
+that were not put to some use by his mother in their establishment. He
+thought he should render a service to mankind if he could do something
+useful with coal ashes. So he had studied all the chemistry books, and
+had one or two in his pockets now, and drew out a paper with H O, and
+other strange letters and figures on it. The other boys after supper
+busied themselves with arranging the room for a night's sleep.
+
+"It's awful jolly," said Dick. "This bed will hold four of us. I'll
+sleep across the foot, and Sam shall have the sofa."
+
+But Sam rose up from his study. "I've no notion of spending the night
+here. The door must be open by this time."
+
+He went to the window that looked out on the veranda. There was a heavy
+rain-storm; it was pouring hard. It was hard work getting down to the
+door in the dark. The candle kept going out; and they found the door
+still locked when they reached it.
+
+"Why not spend the night?" said Jonas. "They'll have got over their
+worries at home by this time."
+
+"Nobody could come up here to see after us in this rain," said Sam.
+"I suppose they think that as we have made our bed we may as well sleep
+in it."
+
+Sleep they did until a late hour in the morning. All the windows but the
+one upon the veranda closed with shutters. They woke up to find snow and
+rain together. They went all over the house to find some way of getting
+out, but doors and windows were well closed.
+
+"It's no use, boys," said Sam. "We've tried it often enough from outside
+to get in, and now it is as hard to get out. I was always disgusted that
+the windows were so high from the ground. Anyhow, father or some of the
+folks will be after us sometime. What was it you told mother?" Sam
+asked.
+
+John Stebbins had to confess that he had not seen Mrs. Wilson, and
+indeed had been vague with the information he had left with Jane. "I
+told them we were with the Pentz boys," he said; "I thought it just as
+well to keep dark."
+
+"Mighty dark we all of us are!" said Sam, in a rage. He was so angry
+that John Stebbins began to think he had made Jane understand where they
+were, and he tried to calm Sam down. Jonas proposed that Dick should be
+put through the cold-air box again. With a little squeezing from behind
+he must be able to get through. Everybody but Dick thought it such a
+nice plan that he was obliged to agree. But what was their horror when
+they reached the place to find some boards nailed across the outside!
+
+"A regular siege!" said Sam. "Well, if they can stand it I guess we
+can." His mettle was up. "We'll stay till relief forces come. It is some
+trick of the boys. Lucky there's no school. They can't hold out long."
+
+"A state of siege! What fun!" cried the boys.
+
+"I only wish we had brought two pies," said John Stebbins. "But there's
+plenty of gingerbread."
+
+Now they would ransack the house at their leisure. There was light
+enough in the attics to explore the treasures hidden there. They found
+old coal-hods for helmets, and warming-pans for fiery steeds, and they
+had tournaments in the huge halls. They piled up carpets for their
+comfort in their bedroom,--bits of old carpet,--and Jonas and Sam
+discovered a pile of old worm-eaten books. The day seemed too short,
+and the provender lasted well.
+
+The night, however, was not so happy. The candles were growing short
+and matches fewer. Sam and Jonas had to economize in reading, and told
+stories instead, and the stories had a tendency to ghosts. Dick and Jack
+murmured to John Stebbins it was not such fun after all; when, lo! their
+own talk was interrupted by noises below! A sound of quarrelling voices
+came from the rooms beneath. Voices of men! They went on tiptoe to the
+head of the stairs to listen.
+
+Tramps, indeed!
+
+How had they got in? Was it they who had locked the door? Did they come
+in that way?
+
+"Suppose we go down," said Sam, in a whisper. But John Stebbins and the
+little boys would not think of it. The men were swearing at each other;
+there was a jingle of bottles and sound of drinking.
+
+"It's my opinion we had better keep quiet," said Jonas. "It is a poor
+set, and I don't know what they would do to us if they saw we had found
+them out and would be likely to tell of them."
+
+So they crept back noiselessly. In a state of siege, indeed! John
+Stebbins, with help of the others, lifted the sofa across the door and
+begged Sam to sleep on it. But that night there was not much sleep! The
+storm continued, snow, hail, and rain, and wind howling against the
+windows. Toward morning they did fall asleep. It was at a late hour they
+waked up and went to peer out from the veranda window. There was a
+policeman passing round the house!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile there had been great anxiety at the Wilsons'.
+
+"If it were not for the storm," said Aunt Harriet, "I should send up to
+the Pentzes' to inquire about those boys."
+
+"I suppose it's the storm that keeps them," said Jane.
+
+"If it were not for the storm," Mrs. Pentz was saying to Mary, "I should
+like you to go down to the Wilsons' and see what those boys are about."
+
+As to Mrs. Stebbins, John was so seldom at home it did not occur to her
+to wonder where he was.
+
+But when Saturday morning came, and no boys, Aunt Harriet said, "There's
+a little lull in the storm. I can't stand it any longer, Jane. I am
+going to put on my waterproof and go up to the Pentzes'."
+
+"I will go too," said Jane; and Gertrude and George joined the party.
+
+Half-way up the long street they met the Pentz family coming down to
+make the same inquiries,--Mr. and Mrs. Pentz, Mary, Sophy, Will, and the
+rest.
+
+"Where are the boys?" was the exclamation as they met half-way between
+the two houses.
+
+Mr. Johnson, one of the leading men of the town, crossed the street to
+ask what was the commotion in the two families. "Our boys are missing,"
+said Mr. Pentz. "Five boys!"
+
+"We haven't seen them since Thursday morning," said Aunt Harriet.
+
+"They were at home Thursday afternoon," said Mary Pentz.
+
+"I must speak to the police," said Mr. Pentz.
+
+"He is up at the Wilson House," said Mr. Johnson. "There were tramps in
+the house there last night, and the police came very near catching them.
+He found the door unlocked night before last. The tramps kept off that
+night, but turned up last night in the storm. They have got off,
+however. There is only one policeman, but we've sworn in a special to
+keep guard on the house."
+
+"I'll go up and see him," said Mr. Pentz.
+
+"We'll all go up," said Harriet.
+
+"Perhaps the tramps have gone off with the boys," said Gertrude.
+
+Quite a crowd had collected with the party as they moved up the street,
+and all together came to the front of the house. The policeman was just
+disappearing round the other side. They turned to the back to meet him,
+and reached the corner where the veranda looked down upon the yard.
+
+At this moment Mr. and Mrs. Wilson appeared. They had arrived at the
+station from New York, and heard there the story of the disappearance of
+the boys, and of tramps in the house. They hastened to the scene, Mrs.
+Wilson almost distracted, and now stood with the rest of the Wilsons and
+the Pentzes awaiting the policeman. They heard a cry from above, and
+looked up to the veranda.
+
+There were all the boys in a row.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+A PLACE FOR OSCAR.
+
+
+"I don't like tiresome fables," said Jack, throwing down an old book in
+which he had been trying to read; "it is so ridiculous making the beasts
+talk. Of course they never do talk that way, and if they did talk, they
+would not be giving that kind of advice But then they never did talk.
+Did you ever hear of a beast talking, Ernest, except in a fable?"
+
+Ernest looked up from his book.
+
+"Why, yes," he said decidedly; "the horses of Achilles talked, don't you
+remember?"
+
+"Well, that was a kind of fable," said Jack. "Our horses never talked.
+Bruno comes near it sometimes. But, Hester, don't you think fables are
+tiresome? They always have a moral tagged on!" he continued, appealing
+to his older sister; for Ernest proved a poor listener, and was deep in
+his book again.
+
+"I will tell you a fable about a boy," said Hester, sitting down with
+her work, "and you shall see."
+
+"But don't let the beasts speak," said Jack, "and don't let the boy give
+advice!"
+
+"He won't even think of it," said Hester; and she went on.
+
+"Once there was a boy, and his name was Oscar, and he went to a very
+good school, where he learned to spell and read very well, and do a few
+sums. But when he had learned about as much as that, he took up a new
+accomplishment. This was to fling up balls, two at a time, and catch
+them in his hands. This he could do wonderfully well; but then a great
+many other boys could. He, however, did it at home; he did it on the
+sidewalk; he could do it sitting on the very top of a board fence; but
+he was most proud of doing it in school hours while the teacher was not
+looking. This grew to be his great ambition. He succeeded once or twice,
+when she was very busy with a younger class, and once while her back was
+turned, and she was at the door receiving a visitor.
+
+"But that did not satisfy him: he wanted to be able to do it when she
+was sitting on her regular seat in front of the platform; and every day
+he practised, sometimes with one ball and sometimes with another. It
+took a great deal of his time and all of his attention; and often some
+of the other boys were marked for laughing when he succeeded. And he had
+succeeded so well that the teacher had not the slightest idea what they
+were laughing at.
+
+"All this was very satisfactory to him; but it was not so well for him
+at the end of the year, because it turned out he was behind-hand in all
+his studies, and he had to be put down into a lower room. But coming
+into another room with a fresh teacher, he had to learn his favorite
+accomplishment all over again. It was difficult, for she was a very
+rigid teacher, and seemed to have eyes in every hair of her head; and
+he sat at the other side of the room, so that he had to change hands
+somehow in throwing the balls and getting them into his desk quick
+without being seen. But there were a number of younger boys in the
+room who enjoyed it all very much, so that he was a real hero, and
+felt himself quite a favorite. He did manage to keep up better in his
+arithmetic, too, in spite of his having so little time for his books.
+Perhaps from having to watch the teacher so much, he did learn the
+things that he heard her repeat over and over again; and then he picked
+up some knowledge from the other boys. Still, all through his school
+term, he was sent about more or less from one room to another. The
+teachers could not quite understand why such a bright-looking boy, who
+seemed to be always busy with his lessons, was not farther on in his
+studies.
+
+"So it happened, when they all left school, Oscar was himself surprised
+to find that the boys of his age were ahead of him in various ways. A
+large class went on to the high school; but Oscar, as it proved, was not
+at all fitted.
+
+"And his father took him round from one place to another to try to get
+some occupation for him. He looked so bright that he was taken for an
+office-boy here and there; but he never stayed. The fact was, the only
+thing he could do well was to fling balls up in the air and catch them
+in turn, without letting them drop to the ground; and this he could
+only do best on the sly, behind somebody's back. Now this, though
+entertaining to those who saw it for a little while, did not help on his
+employers, who wondered why they did not get more work out of Oscar.
+
+"A certain Mr. Spenser, a friend of Oscar's father, asked him to bring
+his boy round to his office, and he would employ him. 'He will have to
+do a little drudgery at first, but I think we can promote him soon, if
+he is faithful.'
+
+"So Oscar went with his father to Mr. Spenser's office. Mr. Spenser
+started a little when he saw Oscar; but after talking awhile, he went to
+his table, and took from a drawer two balls. 'My little boy left these
+here this morning,' he said. 'How long do you think,' turning to Oscar,
+'you could keep them up in the air without letting them drop?'
+
+"Oscar was much pleased. Here was his chance; at this office the kind of
+thing he could do was wanted. So he dexterously took the balls, and
+flung them up and down, and might have kept at it all the morning but
+that Mr. Spenser said at last, 'That will do, and it is more than
+enough.' He said, turning to Oscar's father: 'As soon as I saw your boy
+I thought I recognized him as a boy I saw one day in the school flinging
+balls up in the air on the sly behind his teacher's back. I'm sorry to
+see that he keeps up the art still. But I felt pretty sure that day that
+he couldn't have learned much else. I should be afraid to take him into
+my office with a propensity to do things on the sly, for I have other
+boys that must learn to be busy. Perhaps you can find some other place
+for Oscar.'
+
+"But Oscar could not find the kind of place.
+
+"His friend, Seth Clayton, had been fond of collecting insects all
+through his school years. Oscar used to laugh at his boxes full of bugs.
+But Seth used to study them over, and talk about them with his teacher,
+who told him all she knew, and helped him to find books about them. And
+it was when she was leaning over a beautiful specimen of a night-moth
+that Oscar had performed his most remarkable feat of keeping three balls
+in the air for a second and a half. This was in their last school year.
+
+"And now, after some years more of study, Seth was appointed to join an
+expedition to go to South America and look up insects along the Amazon
+and in Brazil.
+
+"'Just what I should like to do,' said Oscar; for he had studied a
+little about the geography of South America, and thought it would be fun
+catching cocoanuts with the help of the monkeys, and have a salary too.
+'That is something I really could do,' said Oscar to Seth. But Seth
+went, and Oscar was left behind.
+
+"Will Leigh had the best chance, perhaps. He used to be a great crony of
+Oscar. He went through the Latin School, and then to Harvard College.
+'He was always burrowing into Latin and Greek,' said Oscar; 'much as
+ever you could do to get an English word out of him.'
+
+"Well, he was wanted as professor in a Western college; so they sent him
+for three years to a German university to study up his Hebrew. But he
+was to travel about Europe first.
+
+"'I wish they would send me,' said Oscar. 'Travelling about Europe is
+just what I should like, and just what I could do. It is a queer thing
+that just these fellows that can work hard, and like to work too, get
+the easiest places, where they have only to lie back and do nothing!'
+
+"Even some of the boys who were behind him in school and below him in
+lower classes came out ahead. Sol Smith, whom Oscar always thought a
+stupid dunce, had the place in Mr. Spenser's office that he would have
+liked.
+
+"'Mr. Spenser took Sol out to his country place in the mountains,' Oscar
+complained, 'where he has boats and plenty of fishing. I know I could
+have caught a lot of trout. It is just what I can do. But that stupid
+Sol, if he looked at a trout, he probably frightened it away.'
+
+"It was just so all along through life. Oscar could not find exactly the
+place he was fitted for. One of his friends, Tracy, went out West as
+engineer. 'I could have done that,' said Oscar; 'I could have carried
+the chain as easy as not. It is a little hard that all the rest of the
+fellows tumble into these easy places. There's Tracy making money hand
+over hand.'
+
+"The next he heard of him Tracy was in the legislature. 'That I could
+do,' said Oscar. 'It is easy enough to go and sit in the legislature,
+with your hands in your pockets, and vote when your turn comes; or you
+needn't be there all the time if you don't choose.'
+
+"So they put Oscar up for the legislature; but he lost the vote, because
+he forgot to sign his name to an important note, in answer to one of his
+'constituents.' He tried for Congress, too, but without success. He
+talked round among his friends about running for President. There was
+the great White House to live in. He would be willing to stay all
+summer. He felt he should be the right person, as he had never done
+anything, and would offend no party.
+
+"But even for President something more is needed than catching
+half-a-dozen balls without letting them fall to the ground.
+
+"Once, indeed, he had thought of joining a circus; but he could not
+equal the Chinese juggler with the balls, and it tired him to jump up
+and down. His father got him the place of janitor at an art building;
+but he made mistakes in making change for tickets, and put wrong checks
+on the umbrellas and parasols, so that nobody got the right umbrella. He
+was really glad when they dismissed him, it tired him so. It was harder
+work than flinging balls----"
+
+"Look at here, you need not go on," said Jack, interrupting his sister.
+"I never did it but just once in school, and that was when you happened
+to come in and speak to Miss Eaton. I was real ashamed that you caught
+me at it then, and I have never had the balls at school since, or
+thought of them."
+
+"The beast has spoken," said Ernest, looking up from his book.
+
+Jack made a rush at his brother. "Oh! stop," said Ernest; "let us find
+out what became of Oscar."
+
+"He has married," said Hester, "and his wife supports him."
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE FIRST NEEDLE.
+
+
+  "Have you heard the new invention, my dears,
+  That a man has invented?" said she.
+  "It's a stick with an eye,
+  Through which you can tie
+  A thread so long, it acts like a thong;
+  And the men have such fun
+  To see the thing run!
+  A firm, strong thread, through that eye at the head,
+  Is pulled over the edges most craftily,
+  And makes a beautiful seam to see!"
+
+  "What! instead of those wearisome thorns, my dear,
+  Those wearisome thorns?" cried they.
+  "The seam we pin,
+  Driving them in;
+  But where are they, by the end of the day,
+  With dancing and jumping and leaps by the sea?
+  For wintry weather
+  They won't hold together,
+  Seal-skins and bear-skins all dropping round,
+  Off from our shoulders down to the ground.
+  The thorns, the tiresome thorns, will prick,
+  But none of them ever consented to stick!
+  Oh, won't the men let us this new thing use?
+  If we mend their clothes, they can't refuse.
+  Ah, to sew up a seam for them to see,--
+  What a treat, a delightful treat, 't will be!"
+
+  "Yes, a nice thing, too, for the babies, my dears,--
+  But, alas, there is but one!" cried she.
+  "I saw them passing it round, and then
+  They said it was only fit for men!
+  What woman would know
+  How to make the thing go?
+  There was not a man so foolish to dream
+  That any woman could sew up a seam!"
+
+  Oh, then there was babbling and screaming, my dears!
+  "At least they might let us do that!" cried they.
+  "Let them shout and fight
+  And kill bears day and night;
+  We'll leave them their spears and hatchets of stone
+  If they'll give us this thing for our very own.
+  It will be like a joy above all we could scheme,
+  To sit up all night and sew such a seam!"
+
+  "Beware! take care!" cried an aged old crone,
+  "Take care what you promise!" said she.
+  "At first 't will be fun,
+  But, in the long run,
+  You'll wish that the men had let the thing be.
+  Through this stick with an eye
+  I look and espy
+  That for ages and ages you'll sit and you'll sew,
+  And longer and longer the seams will grow,
+  And you'll wish you never had asked to sew.
+  But nought that I say.
+  Can keep back the day;
+  For the men will return to their hunting and rowing.
+  And leave to the women forever the sewing."
+
+  Ah! what are the words of an aged crone,
+  For all have left her muttering alone;
+  And the needle and thread they got with such pains.
+  They forever must keep as dagger and chains.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Last of the Peterkins, by Lucretia P. Hale
+
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+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+    content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<meta content="pg2html (binary v0.18b)" name="generator" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of
+    The Last of The Peterkins, With Others of their kin,
+    by Lucretia P. Hale.
+</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[*/
+    <!--
+ body { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; }
+    p { text-indent:   1em;
+        margin-top:    .75em;
+        font-size:     100%;
+        text-align:    justify;
+        margin-bottom: .75em; }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; }
+    hr.full { width: 100%; }
+    .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; }
+    .poem { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left; }
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+    .poem p     { margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; }
+    .poem p.i2  { margin-left: 1.5em; }
+    .quote { margin-left: 6%; margin-right: 6%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; }
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last of the Peterkins, by Lucretia P. Hale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Last of the Peterkins
+       With Others of Their Kin
+
+Author: Lucretia P. Hale
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2005 [EBook #15546]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h1>
+THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS,
+</h1>
+<h2>
+With Others of their kin.
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+BY LUCRETIA P. HALE.
+</h3>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0; font-size: 75%;">
+BOSTON: <br />
+LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. <br />
+1906.
+</p>
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0; font-size: 75%;">
+<i>Copyright, 1886</i>, <br />
+BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. <br />
+Printers <br />
+S.J. PARKHILL &amp; CO., BOSTON, U.S.A.
+</p>
+<hr />
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0;">
+TO <br />
+THE LADY FROM PHILADELPHIA, <br />
+BELOVED BY THE PETERKIN FAMILY, <br />
+This Book is Dedicated.
+</p>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name="h2H_PREF" id="h2H_PREF"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    PREFACE.
+</h2>
+<p>
+The following Papers contain the last records of the Peterkin Family,
+who unhappily ventured to leave their native land and have never
+returned. Elizabeth Eliza's Commonplace Book has been found among the
+family papers, and will be published here for the first time. It is
+evident that she foresaw that the family were ill able to contend with
+the commonplace struggle of life; and we may not wonder that they could
+not survive the unprecedented, far away from the genial advice of
+friends, especially that of the Lady from Philadelphia.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is feared that Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin lost their lives after leaving
+Tobolsk, perhaps in some vast conflagration.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon and Solomon John were probably sacrificed in some effort to
+join in or control the disturbances which arose in the distant places
+where they had established themselves,&mdash;Agamemnon in Madagascar, Solomon
+John in Rustchuk.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys have merged into men in some German university, while
+Elizabeth Eliza must have been lost in the mazes of the Russian language.
+</p>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name="h2H_TOC" id="h2H_TOC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CONTENTS.
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+<a href="#h2H_4_0003">The Last of the Peterkins.</a>
+</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="toc">     I.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0004">ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">    II.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0005">ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">   III.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0006">THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">    IV.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0007">THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">     V.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0008">THE PETERKINS "AT HOME"</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">    VI.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0009">MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">   VII.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0010">MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">  VIII.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0011">THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS</a> </p>
+
+<h3>
+<a href="#h2H_4_0012">Others of their Kin.</a>
+</h3>
+
+<p><span class="toc">    IX.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0013">LUCILLA'S DIARY</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">     X.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0014">JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">    XI.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0016">CARRIE'S THREE WISHES</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">   XII.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0017">"WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">  XIII.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0018">A PLACE FOR OSCAR</a> </p>
+<p><span class="toc">   XIV.</span> <a href="#h2H_4_0019">THE FIRST NEEDLE</a> </p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>Illustrations</h3>
+<p style="text-indent: 0;"><a href="#image-0001">
+Elizabeth Eliza Writes a Paper.
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-indent: 0;"><a href="#image-0002">
+The Ass's Head Proved Hot and Heavy, And Agamemnon Was
+Forced to Hang It over his Arm.
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-indent: 0;"><a href="#image-0003">
+Every Morning at an Early Hour Elizabeth Eliza Made Her
+Visit to the Sphinx.
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-indent: 0;"><a href="#image-0004">
+He Enjoyed his Long Neck Very Much.
+</a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name="h2H_4_0003" id="h2H_4_0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS.
+</h2>
+
+<a name="h2H_4_0004" id="h2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    I.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER.
+</h3>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza joined the Circumambient Club with the idea that it
+would be a long time before she, a new member, would have to read a
+paper. She would have time to hear the other papers read, and to see how
+it was done; and she would find it easy when her turn came. By that time
+she would have some ideas; and long before she would be called upon,
+she would have leisure to sit down and write out something. But a year
+passed away, and the time was drawing near. She had, meanwhile, devoted
+herself to her studies, and had tried to inform herself on all subjects
+by way of preparation. She had consulted one of the old members of the
+Club as to the choice of a subject.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, write about anything," was the answer,&mdash;"anything you have been
+thinking of."
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was forced to say she had not been thinking lately. She
+had not had time. The family had moved, and there was always an
+excitement about something, that prevented her sitting down to think.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not write out your family adventures?" asked the old member.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was sure her mother would think it made them too public;
+and most of the Club papers, she observed, had some thought in them. She
+preferred to find an idea.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a>
+
+<div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 15%; text-align: center; text-indent:0; font-variant: small-caps;">
+<a href="images/illust-02.jpg">
+<img src="images/illust-02.jpg" style="width: 100%;"
+alt="Elizabeth Eliza Writes a Paper." /></a><br />
+Elizabeth Eliza Writes a Paper.
+</div>
+
+<p>
+So she set herself to the occupation of thinking. She went out on
+the piazza to think; she stayed in the house to think. She tried a
+corner of the china-closet. She tried thinking in the cars, and lost her
+pocket-book; she tried it in the garden, and walked into the strawberry
+bed. In the house and out of the house, it seemed to be the same,&mdash;she
+could not think of anything to think of. For many weeks she was seen
+sitting on the sofa or in the window, and nobody disturbed her. "She is
+thinking about her paper," the family would say, but she only knew that
+she could not think of anything.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon told her that many writers waited till the last moment, when
+inspiration came which was much finer than anything studied. Elizabeth
+Eliza thought it would be terrible to wait till the last moment, if the
+inspiration should not come! She might combine the two ways,&mdash;wait till
+a few days before the last, and then sit down and write anyhow. This
+would give a chance for inspiration, while she would not run the risk
+of writing nothing.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was much discouraged. Perhaps she had better give it up? But, no;
+everybody wrote a paper: if not now, she would have to do it sometime!
+</p>
+<p>
+And at last the idea of a subject came to her! But it was as hard to
+find a moment to write as to think. The morning was noisy, till the
+little boys had gone to school; for they had begun again upon their
+regular course, with the plan of taking up the study of cider in
+October. And after the little boys had gone to school, now it was one
+thing, now it was another,&mdash;the china-closet to be cleaned, or one of
+the neighbors in to look at the sewing-machine. She tried after dinner,
+but would fall asleep. She felt that evening would be the true time,
+after the cares of day were over.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Peterkins had wire mosquito-nets all over the house,&mdash;at every door
+and every window. They were as eager to keep out the flies as the
+mosquitoes. The doors were all furnished with strong springs, that
+pulled the doors to as soon as they were opened. The little boys had
+practised running in and out of each door, and slamming it after them.
+This made a good deal of noise, for they had gained great success in
+making one door slam directly after another, and at times would keep up
+a running volley of artillery, as they called it, with the slamming of
+the doors. Mr. Peterkin, however, preferred it to flies.
+</p>
+<p>
+So Elizabeth Eliza felt she would venture to write of a summer evening
+with all the windows open.
+</p>
+<p>
+She seated herself one evening in the library, between two large
+kerosene lamps, with paper, pen, and ink before her. It was a beautiful
+night, with the smell of the roses coming in through the mosquito-nets,
+and just the faintest odor of kerosene by her side. She began upon her
+work. But what was her dismay! She found herself immediately surrounded
+with mosquitoes. They attacked her at every point. They fell upon her
+hand as she moved it to the inkstand; they hovered, buzzing, over her
+head; they planted themselves under the lace of her sleeve. If she moved
+her left hand to frighten them off from one point, another band fixed
+themselves upon her right hand. Not only did they flutter and sting, but
+they sang in a heathenish manner, distracting her attention as she tried
+to write, as she tried to waft them off. Nor was this all. Myriads of
+June-bugs and millers hovered round, flung themselves into the lamps,
+and made disagreeable funeral-pyres of themselves, tumbling noisily on
+her paper in their last unpleasant agonies. Occasionally one darted with
+a rush toward Elizabeth Eliza's head.
+</p>
+<p>
+If there was anything Elizabeth Eliza had a terror of, it was a
+June-bug. She had heard that they had a tendency to get into the hair.
+One had been caught in the hair of a friend of hers, who had long
+luxuriant hair. But the legs of the June-bug were caught in it like
+fish-hooks, and it had to be cut out, and the June-bug was only
+extricated by sacrificing large masses of the flowing locks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza flung her handkerchief over her head. Could she
+sacrifice what hair she had to the claims of literature? She gave a cry
+of dismay.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys rushed in a moment to the rescue. They flapped
+newspapers, flung sofa-cushions; they offered to stand by her side
+with fly-whisks, that she might be free to write. But the struggle
+was too exciting for her, and the flying insects seemed to increase.
+Moths of every description&mdash;large brown moths, small, delicate white
+millers&mdash;whirled about her, while the irritating hum of the mosquito
+kept on more than ever. Mr. Peterkin and the rest of the family came in
+to inquire about the trouble. It was discovered that each of the little
+boys had been standing in the opening of a wire door for some time,
+watching to see when Elizabeth Eliza would have made her preparations
+and would begin to write. Countless numbers of dorbugs and winged
+creatures of every description had taken occasion to come in. It was
+found that they were in every part of the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We might open all the blinds and screens," suggested Agamemnon, "and
+make a vigorous onslaught and drive them all out at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do believe there are more inside than out now," said Solomon John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The wire nets, of course," said Agamemnon, "keep them in now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We might go outside," proposed Solomon John, "and drive in all that are
+left. Then to-morrow morning, when they are all torpid, kill them and
+make collections of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon had a tent which he had provided in case he should ever go to
+the Adirondacks, and he proposed using it for the night. The little boys
+were wild for this.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin thought she and Elizabeth Eliza would prefer trying to
+sleep in the house. But perhaps Elizabeth Eliza would go on with her
+paper with more comfort out of doors.
+</p>
+<p>
+A student's lamp was carried out, and she was established on the steps
+of the back piazza, while screens were all carefully closed to prevent
+the mosquitoes and insects from flying out. But it was of no use. There
+were outside still swarms of winged creatures that plunged themselves
+about her, and she had not been there long before a huge miller flung
+himself into the lamp and put it out. She gave up for the evening.
+</p>
+<p>
+Still the paper went on. "How fortunate," exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza,
+"that I did not put it off till the last evening!" Having once begun,
+she persevered in it at every odd moment of the day. Agamemnon presented
+her with a volume of "Synonymes," which was of great service to her. She
+read her paper, in its various stages, to Agamemnon first, for his
+criticism, then to her father in the library, then to Mr. and Mrs.
+Peterkin together, next to Solomon John, and afterward to the whole
+family assembled. She was almost glad that the lady from Philadelphia
+was not in town, as she wished it to be her own unaided production. She
+declined all invitations for the week before the night of the club, and
+on the very day she kept her room with <i>eau sucrée</i>, that she might
+save her voice. Solomon John provided her with Brown's Bronchial Troches
+when the evening came, and Mrs. Peterkin advised a handkerchief over her
+head, in case of June-bugs. It was, however, a cool night. Agamemnon
+escorted her to the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Club met at Ann Maria Bromwick's. No gentlemen were admitted to the
+regular meetings. There were what Solomon John called "occasional annual
+meetings," to which they were invited, when all the choicest papers of
+the year were re-read.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was placed at the head of the room, at a small table,
+with a brilliant gas-jet on one side. It was so cool the windows could
+be closed. Mrs. Peterkin, as a guest, sat in the front row.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was her paper, as Elizabeth Eliza read it, for she frequently
+inserted fresh expressions:&mdash;
+</p>
+<h4>
+THE SUN.
+</h4>
+<p>
+It is impossible that much can be known about it. This is why we
+have taken it up as a subject. We mean the sun that lights us by
+day and leaves us by night. In the first place, it is so far off.
+No measuring-tapes could reach it; and both the earth and the sun are
+moving about so, that it would be difficult to adjust ladders to reach
+it, if we could. Of course, people have written about it, and there are
+those who have told us how many miles off it is. But it is a very large
+number, with a great many figures in it; and though it is taught in most
+if not all of our public schools, it is a chance if any one of the
+scholars remembers exactly how much it is.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is the same with its size. We cannot, as we have said, reach it
+by ladders to measure it; and if we did reach it, we should have no
+measuring-tapes large enough, and those that shut up with springs are
+difficult to use in a high place. We are told, it is true, in a great
+many of the school-books, the size of the sun; but, again, very few of
+those who have learned the number have been able to remember it after
+they have recited it, even if they remembered it then. And almost all of
+the scholars have lost their school-books, or have neglected to carry
+them home, and so they are not able to refer to them,&mdash;I mean, after
+leaving school. I must say that is the case with me, I should say with
+us, though it was different. The older ones gave their school-books to
+the younger ones, who took them back to school to lose them, or who have
+destroyed them when there were no younger ones to go to school. I should
+say there are such families. What I mean is, the fact that in some
+families there are no younger children to take off the school-books. But
+even then they are put away on upper shelves, in closets or in attics,
+and seldom found if wanted,&mdash;if then, dusty.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course, we all know of a class of persons called astronomers, who
+might be able to give us information on the subject in hand, and who
+probably do furnish what information is found in school-books. It should
+be observed, however, that these astronomers carry on their observations
+always in the night. Now, it is well known that the sun does not shine
+in the night. Indeed, that is one of the peculiarities of the night,
+that there is no sun to light us, so we have to go to bed as long as
+there is nothing else we can do without its light, unless we use lamps,
+gas, or kerosene, which is very well for the evening, but would be
+expensive all night long; the same with candles. How, then, can we
+depend upon their statements, if not made from their own observation?&mdash;I
+mean, if they never saw the sun?
+</p>
+<p>
+We cannot expect that astronomers should give us any valuable
+information with regard to the sun, which they never see, their
+occupation compelling them to be up at night. It is quite likely that
+they never see it; for we should not expect them to sit up all day as
+well as all night, as, under such circumstances, their lives would not
+last long.
+</p>
+<p>
+Indeed, we are told that their name is taken from the word <i>aster</i>,
+which means "star;" the word is "aster&mdash;know&mdash;more." This, doubtless,
+means that they know more about the stars than other things. We see,
+therefore, that their knowledge is confined to the stars, and we cannot
+trust what they have to tell us of the sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+There are other asters which should not be mixed up with these,&mdash;we mean
+those growing by the wayside in the fall of the year. The astronomers,
+from their nocturnal habits, can scarcely be acquainted with them; but
+as it does not come within our province, we will not inquire.
+</p>
+<p>
+We are left, then, to seek our own information about the sun. But we
+are met with a difficulty. To know a thing, we must look at it. How can
+we look at the sun? It is so very bright that our eyes are dazzled in
+gazing upon it. We have to turn away, or they would be put out,&mdash;the
+sight, I mean. It is true, we might use smoked glass, but that is apt to
+come off on the nose. How, then, if we cannot look at it, can we find
+out about it? The noonday would seem to be the better hour, when it is
+the sunniest; but, besides injuring the eyes, it is painful to the neck
+to look up for a long time. It is easy to say that our examination of
+this heavenly body should take place at sunrise, when we could look at
+it more on a level, without having to endanger the spine. But how many
+people are up at sunrise? Those who get up early do it because they are
+compelled to, and have something else to do than look at the sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+The milkman goes forth to carry the daily milk, the ice-man to leave
+the daily ice. But either of these would be afraid of exposing their
+vehicles to the heating orb of day,&mdash;the milkman afraid of turning the
+milk, the ice-man timorous of melting his ice,&mdash;and they probably avoid
+those directions where they shall meet the sun's rays. The student, who
+might inform us, has been burning the midnight oil. The student is not
+in the mood to consider the early sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+There remains to us the evening, also,&mdash;the leisure hour of the day.
+But, alas! our houses are not built with an adaptation to this subject.
+They are seldom made to look toward the sunset. A careful inquiry and
+close observation, such as have been called for in preparation of this
+paper, have developed the fact that not a single house in this town
+faces the sunset! There may be windows looking that way, but in such a
+case there is always a barn between. I can testify to this from personal
+observations, because, with my brothers, we have walked through the
+several streets of this town with notebooks, carefully noting every
+house looking upon the sunset, and have found none from which the sunset
+could be studied. Sometimes it was the next house, sometimes a row of
+houses, or its own wood-house, that stood in the way.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course, a study of the sun might be pursued out of doors. But in
+summer, sunstroke would be likely to follow; in winter, neuralgia and
+cold. And how could you consult your books, your dictionaries, your
+encyclopædias? There seems to be no hour of the day for studying the
+sun. You might go to the East to see it at its rising, or to the West
+to gaze upon its setting, but&mdash;you don't.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Here Elizabeth Eliza came to a pause. She had written five different
+endings, and had brought them all, thinking, when the moment came,
+she would choose one of them. She was pausing to select one, and
+inadvertently said, to close the phrase, "you don't." She had not meant
+to use the expression, which she would not have thought sufficiently
+imposing,&mdash;it dropped out unconsciously,&mdash;but it was received as a close
+with rapturous applause.
+</p>
+<p>
+She had read slowly, and now that the audience applauded at such a
+length, she had time to feel she was much exhausted and glad of an end.
+Why not stop there, though there were some pages more? Applause, too,
+was heard from the outside. Some of the gentlemen had come,&mdash;Mr.
+Peterkin, Agamemnon, and Solomon John, with others,&mdash;and demanded
+admission.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Since it is all over, let them in," said Ann Maria Bromwick.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza assented, and rose to shake hands with her applauding
+friends.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0005" id="h2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    II.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK.
+</h3>
+<p>
+I am going to jot down, from time to time, any suggestions that occur
+to me that will be of use in writing another paper, in case I am called
+upon. I might be asked unexpectedly for certain occasions, if anybody
+happened to be prevented from coming to a meeting.
+</p>
+<p>
+I have not yet thought of a subject, but I think that is not of as much
+consequence as to gather the ideas. It seems as if the ideas might
+suggest the subject, even if the subject does not suggest the ideas.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, often a thought occurs to me in the midst, perhaps, of conversation
+with others; but I forget it afterwards, and spend a great deal of time
+in trying to think what it was I was thinking of, which might have been
+very valuable.
+</p>
+<p>
+I have indeed, of late, been in the habit of writing such thoughts on
+scraps of paper, and have often left the table to record some idea that
+occurred to me; but, looking up the paper and getting ready to write it,
+the thought has escaped me.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then again, when I have written it, it has been on the backs of
+envelopes or the off sheet of a note, and it has been lost, perhaps
+thrown into the scrap-basket. Amanda is a little careless about such
+things; and, indeed, I have before encouraged her in throwing away old
+envelopes, which do not seem of much use otherwise, so perhaps she is
+not to blame.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+The more I think of it, the more does it seem to me there would be an
+advantage if everybody should have the same number to their houses,&mdash;of
+course not everybody, but everybody acquainted. It is so hard to
+remember all the numbers; the streets you are not so likely to forget.
+Friends might combine to have the same number. What made me think of it
+was that we do have the same number as the Easterlys. To be sure, we are
+out of town, and they are in Boston; but it makes it so convenient, when
+I go into town to see the Easterlys, to remember that their number is
+the same as ours.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Agamemnon has lost his new silk umbrella. Yet the case was marked with
+his name in full, and the street address and the town. Of course he left
+the case at home, going out in the rain. He might have carried it with
+the address in his pocket, yet this would not have helped after losing
+the umbrella. Why not have a pocket for the case in the umbrella?
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+In shaking the dust from a dress, walk slowly backwards. This prevents
+the dust from falling directly on the dress again.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+On Carving Duck.&mdash;It is singular that I can never get so much off the
+breast as other people do.
+</p>
+<p>
+Perhaps I have it set on wrong side up.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I wonder why they never have catalogues for libraries arranged from the
+last letter of the name instead of the first.
+</p>
+<p>
+There is our Italian teacher whose name ends with a "j," which I should
+remember much easier than the first letter, being so odd.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I cannot understand why a man should want to marry his wife's deceased
+sister. If she is dead, indeed, how can he? And if he has a wife, how
+wrong! I am very glad there is a law against it.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+It is well, in prosperity, to be brought up as though you were living in
+adversity; then, if you have to go back to adversity, it is all the
+same.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the other hand, it might be as well, in adversity, to act as though
+you were living in prosperity; otherwise, you would seem to lose the
+prosperity either way.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Solomon John has invented a new extinguisher. It is to represent a Turk
+smoking a pipe, which is to be hollow, and lets the smoke out. A very
+pretty idea!
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+A bee came stumbling into my room this morning, as it has done every
+spring since we moved here,&mdash;perhaps not the same bee. I think there
+must have been a family bee-line across this place before ever a house
+was built here, and the bees are trying for it every year.
+</p>
+<p>
+Perhaps we ought to cut a window opposite.
+</p>
+<p>
+There's room enough in the world for me and thee; go thou and trouble
+some one else,&mdash;as the man said when he put the fly out of the window.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Ann Maria thinks it would be better to fix upon a subject first; but
+then she has never yet written a paper herself, so she does not realize
+that you have to have some thoughts before you can write them. She
+should think, she says, that I would write about something that I see.
+But of what use is it for me to write about what everybody is seeing,
+as long as they can see it as well as I do?
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+The paper about emergencies read last week was one of the best I ever
+heard; but, of course, it would not be worth while for me to write the
+same, even if I knew enough.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+My commonplace-book ought to show me what to do for common things; and
+then I can go to lectures, or read the "Rules of Emergencies" for the
+uncommon ones.
+</p>
+<p>
+Because, as a family, I think we are more troubled about what to do
+on the common occasions than on the unusual ones. Perhaps because the
+unusual things don't happen to us, or very seldom; and for the uncommon
+things, there is generally some one you can ask.
+</p>
+<p>
+I suppose there really is not as much danger about these uncommon things
+as there is in the small things, because they don't happen so often, and
+because you are more afraid of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+I never saw it counted up, but I conclude that more children tumble into
+mud-puddles than into the ocean or Niagara Falls, for instance. It was
+so, at least, with our little boys; but that may have been partly
+because they never saw the ocean till last summer, and have never been
+to Niagara. To be sure, they had seen the harbor from the top of Bunker
+Hill Monument, but there they could not fall in. They might have fallen
+off from the top of the monument, but did not. I am sure, for our little
+boys, they have never had the remarkable things happen to them. I
+suppose because they were so dangerous that they did not try them, like
+firing at marks and rowing boats. If they had used guns, they might
+have shot themselves or others; but guns have never been allowed in the
+house. My father thinks it is dangerous to have them. They might go
+off unexpected. They would require us to have gunpowder and shot in the
+house, which would be dangerous. Amanda, too, is a little careless.
+And we never shall forget the terrible time when the "fulminating paste"
+went off one Fourth of July. It showed what might happen even if you did
+not keep gunpowder in the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+To be sure, Agamemnon and Solomon John are older now, and might learn
+the use of fire-arms; but even then they might shoot the wrong
+person&mdash;the policeman or some friends coming into the house&mdash;instead of
+the burglar.
+</p>
+<p>
+And I have read of safe burglars going about. I don't know whether it
+means that it is safe for them or for us; I hope it is the latter.
+Perhaps it means that they go without fire-arms, making it safer for
+them.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I have the "Printed Rules for Emergencies," which will be of great use,
+as I should be apt to forget which to do for which. I mean I should be
+quite likely to do for burns and scalds what I ought to do for cramp.
+And when a person is choking, I might sponge from head to foot, which
+is what I ought to do to prevent a cold.
+</p>
+<p>
+But I hope I shall not have a chance to practise. We have never had the
+case of a broken leg, and it would hardly be worth while to break one on
+purpose.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then we have had no cases of taking poison, or bites from mad dogs,
+perhaps partly because we don't keep either poison or dogs; but then our
+neighbors might, and we ought to be prepared. We do keep cats, so that
+we do not need to have poison for the rats; and in this way we avoid
+both dangers,&mdash;from the dogs going mad, and from eating the poison by
+mistake instead of the rats.
+</p>
+<p>
+To be sure, we don't quite get rid of the rats, and need a trap for the
+mice; but if you have a good family cat it is safer.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+About window-curtains&mdash;I mean the drapery ones&mdash;we have the same trouble
+in deciding every year. We did not put any in the parlor windows when we
+moved, only window-shades, because there were so many things to be done,
+and we wanted time to make up our minds as to what we would have.
+</p>
+<p>
+But that was years ago, and we have not decided yet, though we consider
+the subject every spring and fall.
+</p>
+<p>
+The trouble is, if we should have heavy damask ones like the Bromwicks',
+it would be very dark in the winter, on account of the new, high
+building opposite.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, we like as much light as we can get in the winter, so we have
+always waited till summer, thinking we would have some light muslin
+ones, or else of the new laces. But in summer we like to have the room
+dark, and the sun does get round in the morning quite dazzling on the
+white shades. (We might have dark-colored shades, but there would be the
+same trouble of its being too dark in the winter.)
+</p>
+<p>
+We seem to need the heavy curtains in summer and the light curtains in
+winter, which would look odd. Besides, in winter we do need the heavy
+curtains to shut out the draughts, while in summer we like all the air
+we can get.
+</p>
+<p>
+I have been looking for a material that shall shut out the air and yet
+let in the light, or else shut out the light and let in the air; or else
+let in the light when you want it, and not when you don't. I have not
+found it yet; but there are so many new inventions that I dare say I
+shall come across it in time. They seem to have invented everything
+except a steamer that won't go up and down as well as across.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I never could understand about averages. I can't think why people are so
+fond of taking them,&mdash;men generally. It seems to me they tell anything
+but the truth. They try to tell what happens every evening, and they
+don't tell one evening right.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was our Free Evening Cooking-school. We had a class of fourteen
+girls; and they admired it, and liked nothing better, and attended
+regularly. But Ann Maria made out the report according to the average of
+attendance on the whole number of nights in the ten weeks of the school,
+one evening a week; so she gave the numbers 12-3/5 each night.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now the fact was, they all came every night except one, when there was
+such a storm, nobody went,&mdash;not even the teacher, nor Ann Maria, nor any
+of us. It snowed and it hailed and the wind blew, and our steps were so
+slippery Amanda could not go out to put on ashes; ice even on the upper
+steps. The janitor, who makes the fire, set out to go; but she was blown
+across the street, into the gutter. She did succeed in getting in to Ann
+Maria's, who said it was foolish to attempt it, and that nobody would
+go; and I am not sure but she spent the night there,&mdash;at Ann Maria's, I
+mean. Still, Ann Maria had to make up the account of the number of
+evenings of the whole course.
+</p>
+<p>
+But it looks, in the report, as though there were never the whole
+fourteen there, and as though 1-2/5 of a girl stayed away every night,
+when the facts are we did not have a single absence, and the whole
+fourteen were there every night, except the night there was no school;
+and I have been told they all had on their things to come that night,
+but their mothers would not let them,&mdash;those that had mothers,&mdash;and they
+would have been blown away if they had come.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seems to me the report does not present the case right, on account of
+the averages.
+</p>
+<p>
+I think it is indeed the common things that trouble one to decide about,
+as I have said, since for the remarkable ones one can have advice. The
+way we do on such occasions is to ask our friends, especially the lady
+from Philadelphia.
+</p>
+<p>
+Whatever we should have done without her, I am sure I cannot tell, for
+her advice is always inestimable. To be sure, she is not always here;
+but there is the daily mail (twice from here to Boston), and the
+telegraph, and to some places the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>
+But for some common things there is not time for even the telephone.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Yesterday morning, for instance, going into Boston in the early train,
+I took the right side for a seat, as is natural, though I noticed that
+most of the passengers were crowding into the seats on the other side.
+I found, as we left the station, that I was on the sunny side, which was
+very uncomfortable. So I made up my mind to change sides, coming out.
+But, unexpectedly, I stayed in till afternoon at Mrs. Easterly's. It
+seems she had sent a note to ask me (which I found at night all right,
+when I got home), as Mr. Easterly was away. So I did not go out till
+afternoon. I did remember my determination to change sides in going out,
+and as I took the right going in, not to take the right going out. But
+then I remembered, as it was afternoon, the sun would have changed; so
+if the right side was wrong in the morning, it would be right in the
+afternoon. At any rate, it would be safe to take the other side. I did
+observe that most of the people took the opposite side, the left side;
+but I supposed they had not stopped to calculate.
+</p>
+<p>
+When we came out of the station and from under the bridges, I found I
+was sitting in the sun again, the same way as in the morning, in spite
+of all my reasoning. Ann Maria, who had come late and taken the last
+seat on the other side, turned round and called across to me, "Why do
+you always take the sunny side? Do you prefer it?" I was sorry not to
+explain it to her, but she was too far off.
+</p>
+<p>
+It might be safe to do what most of the other people do, when you cannot
+stop to inquire; but you cannot always tell, since very likely they may
+be mistaken. And then if they have taken all the seats, there is not
+room left for you. Still, this time, in coming out, I had reached the
+train in plenty of season, and might have picked out my seat, but then
+there was nobody there to show where most of the people would go. I
+might have changed when I saw where most would go; but I hate changing,
+and the best seats were all taken.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+My father thinks it would be a good plan for Amanda to go to the
+Lectures on Physics. She has lived with us a great many years, and she
+still breaks as many things as she did at the beginning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dr. Murtrie, who was here the other night, said he learned when quite a
+boy, from some book on Physics, that if he placed some cold water in the
+bottom of a pitcher, before pouring in boiling-hot water, it would not
+break. Also, that in washing a glass or china pitcher in very hot water,
+the outside and inside should be in the hot water, or, as he said,
+should feel the hot water at the same time. I don't quite understand
+exactly how, unless the pitcher has a large mouth, when it might be put
+in sideways.
+</p>
+<p>
+He told the reasons, which, being scientific, I cannot remember or
+understand.
+</p>
+<p>
+If Amanda had known about this, she might have saved a great deal of
+valuable glass and china. Though it has not always been from hot water,
+the breaking, for I often think she has not the water hot enough; but
+often from a whole tray-full sliding out of her hand, as she was coming
+up-stairs, and everything on it broke.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Dr. Murtrie said if she had learned more of the Laws of Physics she
+would not probably so often tip over the waiter.
+</p>
+<p>
+The trouble is, however, remembering at the right time. She might have
+known the law perfectly well, and forgotten it just on the moment, or
+her dress coming in the way may have prevented.
+</p>
+<p>
+Still, I should like very well myself to go to the Lectures on Physics.
+Perhaps I could find out something about scissors,&mdash;why it is they do
+always tumble down, and usually, though so heavy, without any noise, so
+that you do not know that they have fallen. I should say they had no
+law, because sometimes they are far under the sofa in one direction, or
+hidden behind the leg of the table in another, or perhaps not even on
+the floor, but buried in the groove at the back of the easy-chair, and
+you never find them till you have the chair covered again. I do feel
+always in the back of the chair now; but Amanda found mine, yesterday,
+in the groove of the sofa.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+It is possible Elizabeth Eliza may have taken the remaining sheets of
+her commonplace-book abroad with her. We have not been able to recover
+them.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0006" id="h2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    III.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING.
+</h3>
+<p>
+Long ago Mrs. Peterkin had been afraid of the Mohammedans, and would
+have dreaded to travel among them; but since the little boys had taken
+lessons of the Turk, and she had become familiar with his costume and
+method of sitting, she had felt less fear of them as a nation.
+</p>
+<p>
+To be sure, the Turk had given but few lessons, as, soon after making
+his engagement, he had been obliged to go to New York to join a
+tobacconist's firm. Mr. Peterkin had not regretted his payment for
+instruction in advance; for the Turk had been very urbane in his
+manners, and had always assented to whatever the little boys or any of
+the family had said to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin had expressed a desire to see the famous Cleopatra's
+Needle which had been brought from Egypt. She had heard it was something
+gigantic for a needle, and it would be worth a journey to New York. She
+wondered at their bringing it such a distance, and would have supposed
+that some of Cleopatra's family would have objected to it if they were
+living now.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon said that was the truth; there was no one left to object; they
+were all mummies under ground, with such heavy pyramids over them that
+they would not easily rise to object.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin feared that all the pyramids would be brought away in time.
+Agamemnon said there were a great many remaining in Egypt. Still, he
+thought it would be well to visit Egypt soon, before they were all
+brought away, and nothing but the sand left. Mrs. Peterkin said she
+would be almost as willing to travel to Egypt as to New York, and it
+would seem more worth while to go so far to see a great many than to go
+to New York only for one needle.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That would certainly be a needless expense," suggested Solomon John.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to see the Sphinx. Perhaps it would answer
+some of the family questions that troubled them day after day.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon felt it would be a great thing for the education of the little
+boys. If they could have begun with the Egyptian hieroglyphics before
+they had learned their alphabet, they would have begun at the right end.
+Perhaps it was not too late now to take them to Egypt, and let them
+begin upon its old learning. The little boys declared it was none too
+late. They could not say the alphabet backward now, and could never
+remember whether <i>u</i> came before <i>v</i>; and the voyage would be
+a long one, and before they reached Egypt, very likely they would have
+forgotten all.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was about this voyage that Mrs. Peterkin had much doubt. What she was
+afraid of was getting in and out of the ships and boats. She was afraid
+of tumbling into the water between, when she left the wharf. Elizabeth
+Eliza agreed with her mother in this, and began to calculate how many
+times they would have to change between Boston and Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was the ferry-boat across to East Boston would make two changes;
+one more to get on board the steamer; then Liverpool&mdash;no, to land at
+Queenstown would make two more,&mdash;four, five changes; Liverpool, six.
+Solomon John brought the map, and they counted up. Dover, seven; Calais,
+eight; Marseilles, nine; Malta, if they landed, ten, eleven; and
+Alexandria, twelve changes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin shuddered at the possibilities, not merely for herself,
+but for the family. She could fall in but once, but by the time they
+should reach Egypt, how many would be left out of a family of eight?
+Agamemnon began to count up the contingencies. Eight times twelve would
+make ninety-six chances (8 × 12 = 96). Mrs. Peterkin felt as if all
+might be swept off before the end could be reached.
+</p>
+<p>
+Solomon John said it was not usual to allow more than one chance in a
+hundred. People always said "one in a hundred," as though that were the
+usual thing expected. It was not at all likely that the whole family
+would be swept off.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin was sure they would not want to lose one; they could
+hardly pick out which they could spare, she felt certain. Agamemnon
+declared there was no necessity for such risks. They might go directly
+by some vessel from Boston to Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>
+Solomon John thought they might give up Egypt, and content themselves
+with Rome. "All roads lead to Rome;" so it would not be difficult to
+find their way.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Mrs. Peterkin was afraid to go. She had heard you must do as the
+Romans did if you went to Rome; and there were some things she certainly
+should not like to do that they did. There was that brute who killed
+Cæsar! And she should not object to the long voyage. It would give them
+time to think it all over.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin thought they ought to have more practice in travelling, to
+accustom themselves to emergencies. It would be fatal to start on so
+long a voyage and to find they were not prepared. Why not make their
+proposed excursion to the cousins at Gooseberry Beach, which they had
+been planning all summer? There they could practise getting in and out
+of a boat, and accustom themselves to the air of the sea. To be sure,
+the cousins were just moving up from the seashore, but they could take
+down a basket of luncheon, in order to give no trouble, and they need
+not go into the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza had learned by heart, early in the summer, the list of
+trains, as she was sure they would lose the slip their cousins had sent
+them; and you never could find the paper that had the trains in when you
+wanted it. They must take the 7 A.M. train into Boston in time to go
+across to the station for the Gooseberry train at 7.45, and they would
+have to return from Gooseberry Beach by a 3.30 train. The cousins would
+order the "barge" to meet them on their arrival, and to come for them
+at 3 P.M., in time for the return train, if they were informed the day
+before. Elizabeth Eliza wrote them a postal card, giving them the
+information that they would take the early train. The "barge" was the
+name of the omnibus that took passengers to and from the Gooseberry
+station. Mrs. Peterkin felt that its very name was propitious to this
+Egyptian undertaking.
+</p>
+<p>
+The day proved a fine one. On reaching Boston, Mrs. Peterkin and
+Elizabeth Eliza were put into a carriage with the luncheon-basket to
+drive directly to the station. Elizabeth Eliza was able to check the
+basket at the baggage-station, and to buy their "go-and-return" tickets
+before the arrival of the rest of the party, which appeared, however,
+some minutes before a quarter of eight. Mrs. Peterkin counted the little
+boys. All were there. This promised well for Egypt. But their joy was of
+short duration. On presenting their tickets at the gate of entrance,
+they were stopped. The Gooseberry train had gone at 7.35! The Mattapan
+train was now awaiting its passengers. Impossible! Elizabeth Eliza
+had repeated 7.45 every morning through the summer. It must be the
+Gooseberry train. But the conductor would not yield. If they wished to
+go to Mattapan they could go; if to Gooseberry, they must wait till the
+5 P.M. train.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin was in despair. Their return train was 3.30; how could 5
+P.M. help them?
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin, with instant decision, proposed they should try something
+else. Why should not they take their luncheon-basket across some ferry?
+This would give them practice. The family hastily agreed to this. What
+could be better? They went to the baggage-office, but found their basket
+had gone in the 7.35 train! They had arrived in time, and could have
+gone too. "If we had only been checked!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. The
+baggage-master, showing a tender interest, suggested that there was a
+train for Plymouth at eight, which would take them within twelve miles
+of Gooseberry Beach, and they might find "a team" there to take them
+across. Solomon John and the little boys were delighted with the
+suggestion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We could see Plymouth Rock," said Agamemnon.
+</p>
+<p>
+But hasty action would be necessary. Mr. Peterkin quickly procured
+tickets for Plymouth, and no official objected to their taking the 8
+A.M. train. They were all safely in the train. This had been a test
+expedition; and each of the party had taken something, to see what would
+be the proportion of things lost to those remembered. Mr. Peterkin had
+two umbrellas, Agamemnon an atlas and spyglass, and the little boys were
+taking down two cats in a basket. All were safe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad we have decided upon Plymouth," said Mr. Peterkin. "Before
+seeing the pyramids of Egypt we certainly ought to know something of
+Plymouth Rock. I should certainly be quite ashamed, when looking at
+their great obelisks, to confess that I had never seen our own Rock."
+</p>
+<p>
+The conductor was attracted by this interesting party. When Mr. Peterkin
+told him of their mistake of the morning, and that they were bound for
+Gooseberry Beach, he advised them to stop at Kingston, a station nearer
+the beach. They would have but four miles to drive, and a reduction
+could be effected on their tickets. The family demurred. Were they ready
+now to give up Plymouth? They would lose time in going there. Solomon
+John, too, suggested it would be better, chronologically, to visit
+Plymouth on their return from Egypt, after they had seen the earliest
+things.
+</p>
+<p>
+This decided them to stop at Kingston.
+</p>
+<p>
+But they found here no omnibus nor carriage to take them to Gooseberry.
+The station-master was eager to assist them, and went far and near in
+search of some sort of wagon. Hour after hour passed away, the little
+boys had shared their last peanut, and gloom was gathering over the
+family, when Solomon John came into the station to say there was a
+photographer's cart on the other side of the road. Would not this be a
+good chance to have their photographs taken for their friends before
+leaving for Egypt? The idea reanimated the whole party, and they made
+their way to the cart, and into it, as the door was open. There was,
+however, no photographer there.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon tried to remember what he had read of photography. As all the
+materials were there, he might take the family's picture. There would
+indeed be a difficulty in introducing his own. Solomon John suggested
+they might arrange the family group, leaving a place for him. Then, when
+all was ready, he could put the curtain over the box, take his place
+hastily, then pull away the curtain by means of a string. And Solomon
+John began to look around for a string while the little boys felt in
+their pockets.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon did not exactly see how they could get the curtain back.
+Mr. Peterkin thought this of little importance. They would all be glad
+to sit some time after travelling so long. And the longer they sat the
+better for the picture, and perhaps somebody would come along in time
+to put back the curtain. They began to arrange the group. Mr. and Mrs.
+Peterkin were placed in the middle, sitting down. Elizabeth Eliza stood
+behind them, and the little boys knelt in front with the basket of cats.
+Solomon John and Agamemnon were also to stand behind, Agamemnon leaning
+over his father's shoulder. Solomon John was still looking around for a
+string when the photographer himself appeared. He was much surprised to
+find a group all ready for him. He had gone off that morning for a short
+holiday, but was not unwilling to take the family, especially when he
+heard they were soon going to Egypt. He approved of the grouping made by
+the family, but suggested that their eyes should not all be fixed upon
+the same spot. Before the pictures were finished, the station-master
+came to announce that two carriages were found to take the party to
+Gooseberry Beach.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no hurry," said Mr. Peterkin, "Let the pictures be finished;
+they have made us wait, we can keep them waiting as long as we please."
+</p>
+<p>
+The result, indeed, was very satisfactory. The photographer pronounced
+it a remarkably fine group. Elizabeth Eliza's eyes were lifted to the
+heavens perhaps a little too high. It gave her a rapt expression not
+customary with her; but Mr. Peterkin thought she might look in that way
+in the presence of the Sphinx. It was necessary to have a number of
+copies, to satisfy all the friends left behind when they should go to
+Egypt; and it certainly would not be worth while to come again so great
+a distance for more.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was therefore a late hour when they left Kingston. It took some time
+to arrange the party in two carriages. Mr. Peterkin ought to be in one,
+Mrs. Peterkin in the other; but it was difficult to divide the little
+boys, as all wished to take charge of the cats. The drive, too, proved
+longer than was expected,&mdash;six miles instead of four.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they reached their cousin's door, the "barge" was already standing
+there.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has brought our luncheon-basket!" exclaimed Solomon John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad of it," said Agamemnon, "for I feel hungry enough for it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pulled out his watch. It was three o'clock!
+</p>
+<p>
+This was indeed the "barge," but it had come for their return. The
+Gooseberry cousins, much bewildered that the family did not arrive at
+the time expected, had forgotten to send to countermand it. And the
+"barge" driver, supposing the family had arrived by the other station,
+had taken occasion to bring up the lunch-basket, as it was addressed to
+the Gooseberry cousins. The cousins flocked out to meet them. "What had
+happened? What had delayed them? They were glad to see them at last."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin, when she understood the state of the case, insisted upon
+getting directly into the "barge" to return, although the driver said
+there would be a few moments to spare. Some of the cousins busied
+themselves in opening the luncheon-basket, and a part led the little
+boys and Agamemnon and Solomon John down upon the beach in front of the
+house; there would be a few moments for a glance at the sea. Indeed, the
+little boys ventured in their India-rubber boots to wade in a little
+way, as the tide was low. And Agamemnon and Solomon John walked to look
+at a boat that was drawn up on the beach, and got into it and out of it
+for practice, till they were all summoned back to the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was indeed time to go. The Gooseberry cousins had got out the
+luncheon, and had tried to persuade the family to spend the night. Mrs.
+Peterkin declared this would be impossible. They never had done such a
+thing. So they went off, eating their luncheon as they went, the little
+boys each with a sandwich in one hand and a piece of cake in the other.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin was sure they should miss the train or lose some of the
+party. No, it was a great success; for all, and more than all, were
+found in the train: slung over the arm of one of the little boys was
+found the basket containing the cats. They were to have left the cats,
+but in their haste had brought them away again.
+</p>
+<p>
+This discovery was made in a search for the tickets which Elizabeth
+Eliza had bought, early in the morning, to go and return; they were
+needed now for return. She was sure she had given them to her father.
+Mrs. Peterkin supposed that Mr. Peterkin must have changed them for the
+Kingston tickets. The little boys felt in their pockets, Agamemnon and
+Solomon John in theirs. In the excitement, Mrs. Peterkin insisted upon
+giving up her copy of their new photograph, and could not be satisfied
+till the conductor had punched it. At last the tickets were found in the
+outer lappet of Elizabeth Eliza's hand-bag. She had looked for them in
+the inner part.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was after this that Mr. Peterkin ventured to pronounce the whole
+expedition a success. To be sure, they had not passed the day at the
+beach, and had scarcely seen their cousins; but their object had been
+to practise travelling, and surely they had been travelling all day.
+Elizabeth Eliza had seen the sea, or thought she had. She was not
+sure&mdash;she had been so busy explaining to the cousins and showing the
+photographs. Agamemnon was sorry she had not walked with them to the
+beach, and tried getting in and out of the boat. Elizabeth Eliza
+regretted this. Of course it was not the same as getting into a boat on
+the sea, where it would be wobbling more, but the step must have been
+higher from the sand. Solomon John said there was some difficulty. He
+had jumped in, but was obliged to take hold of the side in getting out.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys were much encouraged by their wade into the tide. They
+had been a little frightened at first when the splash came, but the
+tide had been low. On the whole, Mr. Peterkin continued, things had gone
+well. Even the bringing back of the cats might be considered a good
+omen. Cats were worshipped in Egypt, and they ought not to have tried
+to part with them. He was glad they had brought the cats. They gave the
+little boys an interest in feeding them while they were waiting at the
+Kingston station.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their adventures were not quite over, as the station was crowded when
+they reached Boston. A military company had arrived from the South and
+was received by a procession. A number of distinguished guests also were
+expected, and the Peterkins found it difficult to procure a carriage.
+They had determined to take a carriage, so that they might be sure to
+reach their own evening train in season.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last Mr. Peterkin discovered one that was empty, standing at the end
+of a long line. There would be room for Mrs. Peterkin, Elizabeth Eliza,
+himself, and the little boys, and Agamemnon and Solomon John agreed to
+walk behind in order to keep the carriage in sight. But they were much
+disturbed when they found they were going at so slow a pace. Mr. Peterkin
+called to the coachman in vain. He soon found that they had fallen into
+the line of the procession, and the coachman was driving slowly on
+behind the other carriages. In vain Mr. Peterkin tried to attract the
+driver's attention. He put his head out of one window after another, but
+only to receive the cheers of the populace ranged along the sidewalk.
+He opened the window behind the coachman and pulled his coat. But the
+cheering was so loud that he could not make himself heard. He tried to
+motion to the coachman to turn down one of the side streets, but in
+answer the driver pointed out with his whip the crowds of people. Mr.
+Peterkin, indeed, saw it would be impossible to make their way through
+the throng that filled every side street which they crossed. Mrs.
+Peterkin looked out of the back window for Agamemnon and Solomon John.
+They were walking side by side, behind the carriage, taking off their
+hats, and bowing to the people cheering on either side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are at the head of a long row of men, walking two by two," said
+Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are part of the procession," said Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are part of the procession," Mr. Peterkin answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I rather like it," said Mrs. Peterkin, with a calm smile, as she looked
+out of the window and bowed in answer to a cheer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where do you suppose we shall go?" asked Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have often wondered what became of a procession," said Mr. Peterkin.
+"They are always going somewhere, but I never could tell where they went
+to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall find out!" exclaimed the little boys, who were filled with
+delight, looking now out of one window, now out of the other.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps we shall go to the armory," said one.
+</p>
+<p>
+This alarmed Mrs. Peterkin. Sounds of martial music were now heard, and
+the noise of the crowd grew louder. "I think you ought to ask where we
+are going," she said to Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not for us to decide," he answered calmly. "They have taken us
+into the procession. I suppose they will show us the principal streets,
+and will then leave us at our station."
+</p>
+<p>
+This, indeed, seemed to be the plan. For two hours more the Peterkins,
+in their carriage, and Agamemnon and Solomon John, afoot, followed on.
+Mrs. Peterkin looked out upon rows and rows of cheering people. The
+little boys waved their caps.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It begins to be a little monotonous," said Mrs. Peterkin, at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid we have missed all the trains," said Elizabeth Eliza,
+gloomily. But Mr. Peterkin's faith held to the last, and was rewarded.
+The carriage reached the square in which stood the railroad station. Mr.
+Peterkin again seized the lapels of the coachman's coat and pointed to
+the station, and he was able to turn his horses in that direction. As
+they left the crowd, they received a parting cheer. It was with
+difficulty that Agamemnon and Solomon John broke from the ranks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was a magnificent reception!" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin, wiping his
+brow, after paying the coachman twice his fee. But Elizabeth Eliza said,&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"But we have lost all the trains, I am sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+They had lost all but one. It was the last.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And we have lost the cats!" the little boys suddenly exclaimed. But
+Mrs. Peterkin would not allow them to turn back in search of them.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0007" id="h2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    IV.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR.
+</h3>
+<p>
+It was, to be sure, a change of plan to determine to go to Grandfather's
+for a maple-sugaring instead of going to Egypt! But it seemed best.
+Egypt was not given up,&mdash;only postponed. "It has lasted so many
+centuries," sighed Mr. Peterkin, "that I suppose it will not crumble
+much in one summer more."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Peterkins had determined to start for Egypt in June, and Elizabeth
+Eliza had engaged her dressmaker for January; but after all their plans
+were made, they were told that June was the worst month of all to go to
+Egypt in,&mdash;that they would arrive in midsummer, and find the climate
+altogether too hot,&mdash;that people who were not used to it died of it.
+Nobody thought of going to Egypt in summer; on the contrary, everybody
+came away. And what was worse, Agamemnon learned that not only the
+summers were unbearably hot, but there really was no Egypt in
+summer,&mdash;nothing to speak of,&mdash;nothing but water; for there was a great
+inundation of the river Nile every summer, which completely covered the
+country, and it would be difficult to get about except in boats.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin remembered he had heard something of the sort, but he did
+not suppose it had been kept up with the modern improvements.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin felt that the thing must be very much exaggerated. She
+could not believe the whole country would be covered, or that everybody
+would leave; as summer was surely the usual time for travel, there must
+be strangers there, even if the natives left. She would not be sorry if
+there were fewer of the savages. As for the boats, she supposed after
+their long voyage they would all be used to going about in boats; and
+she had thought seriously of practising, by getting in and out of the
+rocking-chair from the sofa.
+</p>
+<p>
+The family, however, wrote to the lady from Philadelphia, who had
+travelled in Egypt, and whose husband knew everything about Egypt that
+could be known,&mdash;that is, everything that had already been dug up,
+though he could only guess at what might be brought to light next.
+</p>
+<p>
+The result was a very earnest recommendation not to leave for Egypt till
+the autumn. Travellers did not usually reach there before December,
+though October might be pleasant on account of the fresh dates.
+</p>
+<p>
+So the Egypt plan was reluctantly postponed; and, to make amends for the
+disappointment to the little boys, an excursion for maple syrup was
+proposed instead.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin considered it almost a necessity. They ought to acquaint
+themselves with the manufactures of their own new country before
+studying those of the oldest in the world. He had been inquiring into
+the products of Egypt at the present time, and had found sugar to be one
+of their staples. They ought, then, to understand the American methods
+and compare them with those of Egypt. It would be a pretty attention,
+indeed, to carry some of the maple sugar to the principal dignitaries
+of Egypt.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the difficulties in arranging an excursion proved almost as great
+as for going to Egypt. Sugar-making could not come off until it was
+warm enough for the sun to set the sap stirring. On the other hand,
+it must be cold enough for snow, as you could only reach the woods on
+snow-sleds. Now, if there were sun enough for the sap to rise, it would
+melt the snow; and if it were cold enough for sledding, it must be too
+cold for the syrup. There seemed an impossibility about the whole thing.
+The little boys, however, said there always had been maple sugar every
+spring,&mdash;they had eaten it; why shouldn't there be this spring?
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza insisted gloomily that this was probably old sugar they
+had eaten,&mdash;you never could tell in the shops.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin thought there must be fresh sugar occasionally, as the old
+would have been eaten up. She felt the same about chickens. She never
+could understand why there were only the old, tough ones in the market,
+when there were certainly fresh young broods to be seen around the
+farm-houses every year. She supposed the market-men had begun with the
+old, tough fowls, and so they had to go on so. She wished they had begun
+the other way; and she had done her best to have the family eat up the
+old fowls, hoping they might, some day, get down to the young ones.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to the uncertainty about the weather, she suggested they should go to
+Grandfather's the day before. But how can you go the day before, when
+you don't yet know the day?
+</p>
+<p>
+All were much delighted, therefore, when Hiram appeared with the
+wood-sled, one evening, to take them, as early as possible the next
+day, to their grandfather's. He reported that the sap had started,
+the kettles had been on some time, there had been a light snow for
+sleighing, and to-morrow promised to be a fine day. It was decided
+that he should take the little boys and Elizabeth Eliza early, in the
+wood-sled; the others would follow later, in the carry-all.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin thought it would be safer to have some of the party go on
+wheels, in case of a general thaw the next day.
+</p>
+<p>
+A brilliant sun awoke them in the morning. The wood-sled was filled with
+hay, to make it warm and comfortable, and an arm-chair was tied in for
+Elizabeth Eliza. But she was obliged to go first to visit the secretary
+of the Circumambient Society, to explain that she should not be present
+at their evening meeting. One of the rules of this society was to take
+always a winding road when going upon society business, as the word
+"circumambient" means "compassing about." It was one of its laws to copy
+Nature as far as possible, and a straight line is never seen in Nature.
+Therefore she could not send a direct note to say she should not be
+present; she could only hint it in general conversation with the
+secretary; and she was obliged to take a roundabout way to reach the
+secretary's house, where the little boys called for her in her
+wood-sled.
+</p>
+<p>
+What was her surprise to find eight little boys instead of three! In
+passing the school-house they had picked up five of their friends, who
+had reached the school door a full hour before the time. Elizabeth Eliza
+thought they ought to inquire if their parents would be willing they
+should go, as they all expected to spend the night at Grandfather's.
+Hiram thought it would require too much time to stop for the consent of
+ten parents; if the sun kept on at this rate, the snow would be gone
+before they should reach the woods. But the little boys said most of the
+little boys lived in a row, and Elizabeth Eliza felt she ought not to
+take the boys away for all night without their parents' knowledge. The
+consent of two mothers and two fathers was gained, and Mr. Dobson was
+met in the street, who said he would tell the other mother. But at each
+place they were obliged to stop for additional tippets and great-coats
+and India-rubber boots for the little boys. At the Harrimans', too, the
+Harriman girls insisted on dressing up the wood-sled with evergreens,
+and made one of the boys bring their last Christmas-tree, that was
+leaning up against the barn, to set it up in the back of the sled, over
+Elizabeth Eliza. All this made considerable delay; and when they reached
+the high-road again, the snow was indeed fast melting. Elizabeth Eliza
+was inclined to turn back, but Hiram said they would find the sleighing
+better farther up among the hills. The armchair joggled about a good
+deal, and the Christmas-tree creaked behind her; and Hiram was obliged
+to stop occasionally and tie in the chair and the tree more firmly.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the warm sun was very pleasant, the eight little boys were very
+lively, and the sleigh-bells jingled gayly as they went on.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was so late when they reached the wood-road that Hiram decided they
+had better not go up the hill to their grandfather's, but turn off into
+the woods.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your grandfather will be there by this time," he declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was afraid the carry-all would miss them, and thought
+they had better wait. Hiram did not like to wait longer, and proposed
+that one or two of the little boys should stop to show the way. But it
+was so difficult to decide which little boys should stay that he gave
+it up. Even to draw lots would take time. So he explained that there
+was a lunch hidden somewhere in the straw; and the little boys thought
+it an admirable time to look it up, and it was decided to stop in the
+sun at the corner of the road. Elizabeth Eliza felt a little jounced
+in the armchair, and was glad of a rest; and the little boys soon
+discovered an ample lunch,&mdash;just what might have been expected from
+Grandfather's,&mdash;apple-pie and doughnuts, and plenty of them! "Lucky
+we brought so many little boys!" they exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hiram, however, began to grow impatient. "There 'll be no snow left," he
+exclaimed, "and no afternoon for the syrup!"
+</p>
+<p>
+But far in the distance the Peterkin carry-all was seen slowly
+approaching through the snow, Solomon John waving a red handkerchief.
+The little boys waved back, and Hiram ventured to enter upon the
+wood-road, but at a slow pace, as Elizabeth Eliza still feared that by
+some accident the family might miss them.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was with difficulty that the carry-all followed in the deep but soft
+snow, in among the trunks of the trees and over piles of leaves hidden
+in the snow. They reached at last the edge of a meadow; and on the high
+bank above it stood a row of maples, a little shanty by the side, a slow
+smoke proceeding from its chimney. The little boys screamed with
+delight, but there was no reply. Nobody there!
+</p>
+<p>
+"The folks all gone!" exclaimed Hiram; "then we must be late." And he
+proceeded to pull out a large silver watch from a side pocket. It was so
+large that he seldom was at the pains to pull it out, as it took time;
+but when he had succeeded at last, and looked at it, he started.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Late, indeed! It is four o'clock, and we were to have been here by
+eleven; they have given you up."
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys wanted to force in the door; but Hiram said it was no
+use,&mdash;they wouldn't understand what to do, and he should have to see to
+the horses,&mdash;and it was too late, and it was likely they had carried off
+all the syrup. But he thought a minute, as they all stood in silence and
+gloom; and then he guessed they might find some sugar at Deacon Spear's,
+close by, on the back road, and that would be better than nothing. Mrs.
+Peterkin was pretty cold, and glad not to wait in the darkening wood; so
+the eight little boys walked through the wood-path, Hiram leading the
+way; and slowly the carry-all followed.
+</p>
+<p>
+They reached Deacon Spear's at length; but only Mrs. Spear was at home.
+She was very deaf, but could explain that the family had taken all their
+syrup to the annual festival.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We might go to the festival," exclaimed the little boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would be very well," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to eat our fresh syrup
+there."
+</p>
+<p>
+But Mrs. Spear could not tell where the festival was to be, as she had
+not heard; perhaps they might know at Squire Ramsay's. Squire Ramsay's
+was on their way to Grandfather's, so they stopped there; but they
+learned that the "Squire's folks had all gone with their syrup to the
+festival," but the man who was chopping wood did not know where the
+festival was to be.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They 'll know at your grandfather's," said Mrs. Peterkin, from the
+carry-all.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, go on to your grandfather's," advised Mr. Peterkin, "for I think
+I felt a drop of rain." So they made the best of their way to
+Grandfather's.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the moment they reached the door of the house, a party of young
+people whom Elizabeth Eliza knew came by in sleighs. She had met them
+all when visiting at her grandfather's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come along with us," they shouted; "we are all going down to the sugar
+festival."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is what we have come for," said Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is it?" asked Solomon John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is down your way," was the reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is in your own New Hall," said another. "We have sent down all our
+syrup. The Spears and Ramsays and Doolittles have gone on with theirs.
+No time to stop; there's good sleighing on the old road."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a little consultation with the grandfather. Hiram said that
+he could take them back with the wood-sled, when he heard there was
+sleighing on the old road; and it was decided that the whole party
+should go in the wood-sled, with the exception of Mr. Peterkin, who
+would follow on with the carry-all. Mrs. Peterkin would take the
+arm-chair, and cushions were put in for Elizabeth Eliza, and more
+apple-pie for all. No more drops of rain appeared, though the clouds
+were thickening over the setting sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All the way back again," sighed Mrs. Peterkin, "when we might have
+stayed at home all day, and gone quietly out to the New Hall!" But
+the little boys thought the sledding all day was great fun,&mdash;and the
+apple-pie! "And we did see the kettle through the cracks of the shanty!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is odd the festival should be held at the New Hall," said Elizabeth
+Eliza; "for the secretary did say something about the society meeting
+there to-night, being so far from the centre of the town."
+</p>
+<p>
+This hall was so called because it was once a new hall, built to be used
+for lectures, assemblies, and entertainments of this sort, for the
+convenience of the inhabitants who had collected about some flourishing
+factories.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can go to your own Circumambient Society, then!" exclaimed Solomon
+John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And in a truly circumambient manner," said Agamemnon; and he explained
+to the little boys that they could now understand the full meaning of
+the word, for surely Elizabeth Eliza had taken the most circumambient
+way of reaching the place by coming away from it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We little thought, when we passed it early this morning," said
+Elizabeth Eliza, "that we should come back to it for our maple sugar."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is odd the secretary did not tell you they were going to join the
+sugar festival," said Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is one of the rules of the society," said Elizabeth Eliza, "that the
+secretary never tells anything directly. She only hinted at the plan of
+the New Hall."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see how you can find enough to talk about," said Solomon John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We can tell of things that never have happened," said Elizabeth Eliza,
+"or that are not likely to happen, and wonder what would have happened
+if they had happened."
+</p>
+<p>
+They arrived at the festival at last, but very late, and glad to find a
+place that was warm. There was a stove at each end of the hall, and an
+encouraging sound and smell from the simmering syrup. There were long
+tables down the hall, on which were placed, in a row, first a bowl of
+snow, then a pile of saucers and spoons, then a plate of pickles,
+intended to whet the appetite for more syrup; another of bread, then
+another bowl of snow, and so on. Hot syrup was to be poured on the snow
+and eaten as candy.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Peterkin family were received at this late hour with a wild
+enthusiasm. Elizabeth Eliza was an especial heroine, and was made
+directly the president of the evening. Everybody said that she had best
+earned the distinction; for had she not come to the meeting by the
+longest way possible, by going away from it? The secretary declared that
+the principles of the society had been completely carried out. She had
+always believed that if left to itself, information would spread itself
+in a natural instead of a forced way.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, in this case, if I had written twenty-nine notifications to this
+meeting, I should have wasted just so much of my time. But the
+information has disseminated naturally. Ann Maria said what a good plan
+it would be to have the Circumambients go to the sugaring at the New
+Hall. Everybody said it would be a good plan. Elizabeth Eliza came and
+spoke of the sugaring, and I spoke of the New Hall."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But if you had told Elizabeth Eliza that all the maple syrup was to be
+brought here&mdash;" began Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We should have lost our excursion for maple syrup," said Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+Later, as they reached home in the carry-all (Hiram having gone back
+with the wood-sled), Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, after leaving little boys at
+their homes all along the route, found none of their own to get out at
+their own door. They must have joined Elizabeth Eliza, Agamemnon, and
+Solomon John in taking a circuitous route home with the rest of the
+Circumambients.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The little boys will not be at home till midnight," said Mrs. Peterkin,
+anxiously. "I do think this is carrying the thing too far, after such a
+day!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Elizabeth Eliza will feel that she has acted up to the principles of
+the society," said Mr. Peterkin, "and we have done our best; for, as the
+little boys said, 'we did see the kettle.'"
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0008" id="h2H_4_0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    V.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE PETERKINS "AT HOME."
+</h3>
+<p>
+Might not something be done by way of farewell before leaving for Egypt?
+They did not want to give another tea-party, and could not get in all at
+dinner. They had had charades and a picnic. Elizabeth Eliza wished for
+something unusual, that should be remembered after they had left for
+Egypt. Why should it not be a fancy ball? There never had been one in
+the place.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin hesitated. Perhaps for that reason they ought not to
+attempt it. She liked to have things that other people had. She however
+objected most to the "ball" part. She could indeed still dance a minuet,
+but she was not sure she could get on in the "Boston dip."
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys said they would like the "fancy" part and "dressing up."
+They remembered their delight when they browned their faces for Hindus,
+at their charades, just for a few minutes; and what fun it would be to
+wear their costumes through a whole evening! Mrs. Peterkin shook her
+head; it was days and days before the brown had washed out of their
+complexions.
+</p>
+<p>
+Still, she too was interested in the "dressing up." If they should wear
+costumes, they could make them of things that might be left behind, that
+they had done wearing, if they could only think of the right kind of
+things.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin, indeed, had already packed up, although they were not to
+leave for two months, for she did not want to be hurried at the last.
+She and Elizabeth Eliza went on different principles in packing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza had been told that you really needed very little to
+travel with,&mdash;merely your travelling dress and a black silk. Mrs.
+Peterkin, on the contrary, had heard it was best to take everything you
+had, and then you need not spend your time shopping in Paris. So they
+had decided upon adopting both ways. Mrs. Peterkin was to take her
+"everything," and already had all the shoes and stockings she should
+need for a year or two. Elizabeth Eliza, on the other hand, prepared a
+small valise. She consoled herself with the thought that if she should
+meet anything that would not go into it, she could put it in one of her
+mother's trunks.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was resolved to give the fancy ball.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin early determined upon a character. He decided to be Julius
+Cæsar. He had a bald place on the top of his head, which he was told
+resembled that of the great Roman; and he concluded that the dress would
+be a simple one to get up, requiring only a sheet for a toga.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon was inclined to take the part which his own name represented,
+and he looked up the costume of the Greek king of men. But he was
+dissatisfied with the representation given of him in Dr. Schliemann's
+"Mykenæ." There was a picture of Agamemnon's mask, but very much
+battered. He might get a mask made in that pattern, indeed, and the
+little boys were delighted with the idea of battering it. Agamemnon
+would like to wear a mask, then he would have no trouble in keeping up
+his expression. But Elizabeth Eliza objected to the picture in Dr.
+Schliemann's book; she did not like it for Agamemnon,&mdash;it was too
+slanting in the eyes. So it was decided he should take the part of Nick
+Bottom, in "Midsummer Night's Dream." He could then wear the ass's head,
+which would have the same advantage as a mask, and would conceal his own
+face entirely. Then he could be making up any face he pleased in the
+ass's head, and would look like an ass without any difficulty, while his
+feet would show he was not one. Solomon John thought that they might
+make an ass's head if they could get a pattern, or could see the real
+animal and form an idea of the shape. Barnum's Circus would be along in
+a few weeks, and they could go on purpose to study the donkeys, as there
+usually was more than one donkey in the circus. Agamemnon, however, in
+going with a friend to a costumer's in Boston, found an ass's head
+already made.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys found in an illustrated paper an accurate description
+of the Hindu snake-charmer's costume, and were so successful in their
+practice of shades of brown for the complexion, that Solomon John
+decided to take the part of Othello, and use some of their staining
+fluid.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was some discussion as to consulting the lady from Philadelphia,
+who was in town.
+</p>
+<p>
+Solomon John thought they ought to practise getting on by themselves,
+for soon the Atlantic would lie between her and them. Mrs. Peterkin
+thought they could telegraph. Elizabeth Eliza wanted to submit to her
+two or three questions about the supper, and whether, if her mother were
+Queen Elizabeth, they could have Chinese lanterns. Was China invented at
+that time? Agamemnon was sure China was one of the oldest countries in
+the world and did exist, though perhaps Queen Elizabeth did not know it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was relieved to find that the lady from Philadelphia
+thought the question not important. It would be impossible to have
+everything in the house to correspond with all the different characters,
+unless they selected some period to represent, such as the age of Queen
+Elizabeth. Of course, Elizabeth Eliza would not wish to do this when her
+father was to be Julius Cæsar.
+</p>
+<p>
+The lady from Philadelphia advised Mrs. Peterkin to send for Jones the
+"caterer" to take charge of the supper. But his first question staggered
+her. How many did she expect?
+</p>
+<p>
+They had not the slightest idea. They had sent invitations to everybody.
+The little boys proposed getting the directory of the place, and marking
+out the people they didn't know and counting up the rest. But even if
+this would give the number of invitations, it would not show how many
+would accept; and then there was no such directory. They could not
+expect answers, as their invitations were cards with "At Home" on them.
+One answer had come from a lady, that she too would be "at home" with
+rheumatism. So they only knew there was one person who would not come.
+Elizabeth Eliza had sent in Circumambient ways to all the members of
+that society,&mdash;by the little boys, for instance, who were sure to stop
+at the base-ball grounds, or somewhere, so a note was always delayed by
+them. One Circumambient note she sent by mail, purposely omitting the
+"Mass.," so that it went to the Dead-Letter Office, and came back six
+weeks after the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the Peterkin family were not alone in commotion. The whole town was
+in excitement, for "everybody" had been invited. Ann Maria Bromwick
+had a book of costumes that she lent to a few friends, and everybody
+borrowed dresses or lent them, or went into town to the costumer's.
+Weeks passed in preparation. "What are you going to wear?" was the only
+question exchanged; and nobody answered, as nobody would tell.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length the evening came,&mdash;a beautiful night in late summer, warm
+enough to have had the party out-of-doors; but the whole house was
+lighted up and thrown open, and Chinese lanterns hung in the portico and
+on the pillars of the piazzas.
+</p>
+<p>
+At an early hour the Peterkins were arrayed in their costumes. The
+little boys had their legs and arms and faces browned early in the day,
+and wore dazzlingly white full trousers and white turbans.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza had prepared a dress as Queen Elizabeth; but Solomon
+John was desirous that she should be Desdemona, and she gave up her
+costume to her mother. Mrs. Peterkin therefore wore a red wig which Ann
+Maria had found at a costumer's, a high ruff, and an old-fashioned
+brocade. She was not sure that it was proper for Queen Elizabeth to wear
+spectacles; but Queen Elizabeth must have been old enough, as she lived
+to be seventy. As for Elizabeth Eliza, in recalling the fact that
+Desdemona was smothered by pillows, she was so impressed by it that she
+decided she could wear the costume of a sheet-and-pillow-case party. So
+she wore a white figured silk that had been her mother's wedding-dress,
+and over it draped a sheet as a large mantle, and put a pillow-case upon
+her head, and could represent Desdemona not quite smothered. But Solomon
+John wished to carry out the whole scene at the end.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they stood together, all ready to receive, in the parlor at the
+appointed hour, Mr. Peterkin suddenly exclaimed,&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"This will never do! We are not the Peterkins,&mdash;we are distinguished
+guests! We cannot receive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall have to give up the party," said Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Or our costumes," groaned Agamemnon from his ass's head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must go out, and come in as guests," said Elizabeth Eliza, leading
+the way to a back door, for guests were already thronging in, and up
+the front stairs. They passed out by a piazza, through the hedge of
+hollyhocks, toward the front of the house. Through the side windows of
+the library they could see the company pouring in. The black attendant
+was showing them upstairs; some were coming down, in doubt whether to
+enter the parlors, as no one was there. The wide middle entrance hall
+was lighted brilliantly; so were the parlors on one side and the library
+on the other.
+</p>
+<p>
+But nobody was there to receive! A flock of guests was
+assembling,&mdash;peasant girls, Italian, German, and Norman; Turks, Greeks,
+Persians, fish-wives, brigands, chocolate-women, Lady Washington,
+Penelope, Red Riding-hood, Joan of Arc, nuns, Amy Robsart, Leicester,
+two or three Mary Stuarts, Neapolitan fisher-boys, pirates of Penzance
+and elsewhere,&mdash;all lingering, some on the stairs, some going up, some
+coming down.
+</p>
+<p>
+Charles I. without his head was entering the front door (a short
+gentleman, with a broad ruff drawn neatly together on top of his own
+head, which was concealed in his doublet below).
+</p>
+<p>
+Three Hindu snake-charmers leaped wildly in and out among the throng,
+flinging about dark, crooked sticks for snakes.
+</p>
+<p>
+There began to be a strange, deserted air about the house. Nobody knew
+what to do, where to go!
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can anything have happened to the family?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have they gone to Egypt?" whispered one.
+</p>
+<p>
+No ushers came to show them in. A shudder ran through the whole
+assembly, the house seemed so uninhabited; and some of the guests were
+inclined to go away. The Peterkins saw it all through the long
+library-windows.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall we do?" said Mr. Peterkin. "We have said <i>we</i> should
+be 'At Home.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And here we are, all out-of-doors among the hollyhocks," said Elizabeth
+Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are no Peterkins to 'receive,'" said Mr. Peterkin, gloomily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We might go in and change our costumes," said Mrs. Peterkin, who
+already found her Elizabethan ruff somewhat stiff; "but, alas! I could
+not get at my best dress."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The company is filling all the upper rooms," said Elizabeth Eliza; "we
+cannot go back."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment the little boys returned from the front door, and in a
+subdued whisper explained that the lady from Philadelphia was arriving.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, bring her here!" said Mrs. Peterkin. And Solomon John hastened to
+meet her.
+</p>
+<p>
+She came, to find a strange group half lighted by the Chinese lanterns.
+Mr. Peterkin, in his white toga, with a green wreath upon his head, came
+forward to address her in a noble manner, while she was terrified by the
+appearance of Agamemnon's ass's head, half hidden among the leaves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall we do?" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin. "There are no Peterkins;
+yet we have sent cards to everybody that they are 'At Home'!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The lady from Philadelphia, who had been allowed to come without
+costume, considered for a moment. She looked through the windows to the
+seething mass now crowding the entrance hall. The Hindu snake-charmers
+gambolled about her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>We</i> will receive as the Peterkin family!" she exclaimed. She
+inquired for a cap of Mrs. Peterkin's, with a purple satin bow, such as
+she had worn that very morning. Amanda was found by a Hindu, and sent
+for it and for a purple cross-over shawl that Mrs. Peterkin was wont to
+wear. The daughters of the lady from Philadelphia put on some hats of
+the little boys and their India-rubber boots. Hastily they went in
+through the back door and presented themselves, just as some of the
+wavering guests had decided to leave the house, it seeming so quiet
+and sepulchral.
+</p>
+<p>
+The crowd now flocked into the parlors. The Peterkins themselves left
+the hollyhocks and joined the company that was entering; Mr. Peterkin,
+as Julius Cæsar, leading in Mrs. Peterkin, as Queen Elizabeth. Mrs.
+Peterkin hardly knew what to do, as she passed the parlor door; for one
+of the Osbornes, as Sir Walter Raleigh, flung a velvet cloak before
+her. She was uncertain whether she ought to step on it, especially as
+she discovered at that moment that she had forgotten to take off her
+rubber overshoes, which she had put on to go through the garden. But
+as she stood hesitating, the lady from Philadelphia, as Mrs. Peterkin,
+beckoned her forward, and she walked over the ruby velvet as though it
+were a door-mat.
+</p>
+<p>
+For another surprise stunned her,&mdash;there were three Mrs. Peterkins! Not
+only Mrs. Bromwick, but their opposite neighbor, had induced Amanda to
+take dresses of Mrs. Peterkin's from the top of the trunks, and had come
+in at the same moment with the lady from Philadelphia, ready to receive.
+She stood in the middle of the bow-window at the back of the room, the
+two others in the corners. Ann Maria Bromwick had the part of Elizabeth
+Eliza, and Agamemnon too was represented; and there were many sets of
+"little boys" in India-rubber boots, going in and out with the Hindu
+snake-charmers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin had studied up his Latin grammar a little, in preparation
+for his part of Julius Cæsar. Agamemnon had reminded him that it was
+unnecessary, as Julius Cæsar in Shakspeare spoke in English. Still he
+now found himself using with wonderful ease Latin phrases such as "E
+pluribus unum," "lapsus linguæ," and "sine qua non," where they seemed
+to be appropriate.
+</p>
+<p>
+Solomon John looked well as Othello, although by some he was mistaken
+for an older snake-charmer, with his brown complexion, glaring white
+trousers, and white shirt. He wore a white lawn turban that had belonged
+to his great-grandmother. His part, however, was more understood when he
+was with Elizabeth Eliza as Desdemona; for they occasionally formed a
+tableau, in which he pulled the pillow-case completely over her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon was greeted with applause as Nick Bottom. He sang the song of
+the "ousel cock," but he could not make himself heard. At last he found
+a "Titania" who listened to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+But none of the company attempted to carry out the parts represented by
+their costumes. Charles I. soon conversed with Oliver Cromwell and with
+the different Mary Stuarts, who chatted gayly, as though executions were
+every-day occurrences.
+</p>
+<p>
+At first there was a little awkwardness. Nuns stood as quiet as if in
+their convent cells, and brave brigands hid themselves behind the doors;
+but as the different guests began to surprise each other, the sounds of
+laughter and talking increased. Every new-comer was led up to each
+several Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then came a great surprise,&mdash;a band of music sounded from the piazza.
+Some of the neighbors had sent in the town band, as a farewell tribute.
+This added to the excitement of the occasion. Strains of dance-music
+were heard, and dancing was begun. Sir Walter Raleigh led out Penelope,
+and Red Riding-hood without fear took the arm of the fiercest brigand
+for a round dance.
+</p>
+<p>
+The various groups wandered in and out. Elizabeth Eliza studied the
+costumes of her friends, and wished she had tried each one of them. The
+members of the Circumambient Society agreed that it would be always well
+to wear costumes at their meetings. As the principles of the society
+enforced a sort of uncertainty, if you always went in a different
+costume you would never have to keep up your own character. Elizabeth
+Eliza thought she should enjoy this. She had all her life been troubled
+with uncertainties and questions as to her own part of "Elizabeth
+Eliza," wondering always if she were doing the right thing. It did not
+seem to her that other people had such a bother. Perhaps they had
+simpler parts. They always seemed to know when to speak and when to
+be silent, while she was always puzzled as to what she should do as
+Elizabeth Eliza. Now, behind her pillow-case, she could look on and do
+nothing; all that was expected of her was to be smothered now and then.
+She breathed freely and enjoyed herself, because for the evening she
+could forget the difficult role of Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin was bewildered. She thought it a good occasion to study
+how Mrs. Peterkin should act; but there were three Mrs. Peterkins. She
+found herself gazing first at one, then at another. Often she was
+herself called Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a>
+
+<div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 15%; text-align: center; text-indent:0; font-variant: small-caps;">
+<a href="images/illust-03.jpg">
+<img src="images/illust-03.jpg" style="width: 100%;"
+alt="The Ass's Head Proved Hot and Heavy, And Agamemnon Was Forced to Hang It over his Arm." /></a><br />
+The Ass's Head Proved Hot and Heavy, And Agamemnon Was Forced to Hang It over his Arm.
+</div>
+
+<p>
+At supper-time the bewilderment increased. She was led in by the Earl
+of Leicester, as principal guest. Yet it was to her own dining-room,
+and she recognized her own forks and spoons among the borrowed ones,
+although the china was different (because their own set was not large
+enough to go round for so much company). It was all very confusing. The
+dance-music floated through the air. Three Mrs. Peterkins hovered before
+her, and two Agamemnons; for the ass's head proved hot and heavy, and
+Agamemnon was forced to hang it over his arm as he offered coffee to
+Titania. There seemed to be two Elizabeth Elizas, for Elizabeth Eliza
+had thrown back her pillow-case in order to eat her fruit-ice. Mr.
+Peterkin was wondering how Julius Cæsar would have managed to eat
+his salad with his fork, before forks were invented, and then he fell
+into a fit of abstraction, planning to say "Vale" to the guests as they
+left, but anxious that the word should not slip out before the time.
+Eight little boys and three Hindu snake-charmers were eating copiously
+of frozen pudding. Two Joans of Arc were talking to Charles I., who had
+found his head. All things seemed double to Mrs. Peterkin as they
+floated before her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was she eating her own supper or somebody's else? Were they Peterkins,
+or were they not?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Strains of dance-music sounded from the library. Yes, they were giving a
+fancy ball! The Peterkins were "At Home" for the last time before
+leaving for Egypt!
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0009" id="h2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    VI.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT.
+</h3>
+<p>
+The family had taken passage in the new line for Bordeaux. They supposed
+they had; but would they ever reach the vessel in New York? The last
+moments were terrific. In spite of all their careful arrangements, their
+planning and packing of the last year, it seemed, after all, as if
+everything were left for the very last day. There were presents for the
+family to be packed, six steamer-bags for Mrs. Peterkin, half a dozen
+satchels of salts-bottles for Elizabeth Eliza, Apollinaris water,
+lunch-baskets. All these must be disposed of.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the very last day Elizabeth Eliza went into Boston to buy a bird, as
+she had been told she would be less likely to be sea-sick if she had a
+bird in a cage in her stateroom. Both she and her mother disliked the
+singing of caged birds, especially of canaries; but Mrs. Peterkin argued
+that they would be less likely to be homesick, as they never had birds
+at home. After long moments of indecision, Elizabeth Eliza determined
+upon two canary-birds, thinking she might let them fly as they
+approached the shore of Portugal, and they would then reach their native
+islands. This matter detained her till the latest train, so that on her
+return from Boston to their quiet suburban home, she found the whole
+family assembled in the station, ready to take the through express train
+to New York.
+</p>
+<p>
+She did not have time, therefore, to go back to the house for her own
+things. It was now locked up and the key intrusted to the Bromwicks; and
+all the Bromwicks and the rest of the neighbors were at the station,
+ready to bid them good-by. The family had done their best to collect all
+her scattered bits of baggage; but all through her travels, afterward,
+she was continually missing something she had left behind, that she
+would have packed and had intended to bring.
+</p>
+<p>
+They reached New York with half a day on their hands; and during this
+time Agamemnon fell in with some old college friends, who were going
+with a party to Greece to look up the new excavations. They were to
+leave the next day in a steamer for Gibraltar. Agamemnon felt that here
+was the place for him, and hastened to consult his family. Perhaps he
+could persuade them to change their plans and take passage with the
+party for Gibraltar. But he reached the pier just as the steamer for
+Bordeaux was leaving the shore. He was too late, and was left behind!
+Too late to consult them, too late even to join them! He examined his
+map, however,&mdash;one of his latest purchases, which he carried in his
+pocket,&mdash;and consoled himself with the fact that on reaching Gibraltar
+he could soon communicate with his family at Bordeaux, and he was easily
+reconciled to his fate.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not till the family landed at Bordeaux that they discovered the
+absence of Agamemnon. Every day there had been some of the family unable
+to come on deck,&mdash;sea-sick below. Mrs. Peterkin never left her berth,
+and constantly sent messages to the others to follow her example, as she
+was afraid some one of them would be lost overboard. Those who were on
+deck from time to time were always different ones, and the passage was
+remarkably quick; while, from the tossing of the ship, as they met rough
+weather, they were all too miserable to compare notes or count their
+numbers. Elizabeth Eliza especially had been exhausted by the voyage.
+She had not been many days seasick, but the incessant singing of the
+birds had deprived her of sleep. Then the necessity of talking French
+had been a great tax upon her. The other passengers were mostly French,
+and the rest of the family constantly appealed to her to interpret their
+wants, and explain them to the <i>garçon</i> once every day at dinner.
+She felt as if she never wished to speak another word in French; and
+the necessity of being interpreter at the hotel at Bordeaux, on their
+arrival, seemed almost too much for her. She had even forgotten to let
+her canary-birds fly when off shore in the Bay of Biscay, and they were
+still with her, singing incessantly, as if they were rejoicing over an
+approach to their native shores. She thought now she must keep them till
+their return, which they were already planning.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys, indeed, would like to have gone back on the return trip
+of the steamer. A son of the steward told them that the return cargo
+consisted of dried fruits and raisins; that every stateroom, except
+those occupied with passengers, would be filled with boxes of raisins
+and jars of grapes; that these often broke open in the passage, giving
+a great opportunity for boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the family held to their Egypt plan, and were cheered by making the
+acquaintance of an English party. At the <i>table d'hôte</i> Elizabeth
+Eliza by chance dropped her fork into her neighbor's lap. She apologized
+in French; her neighbor answered in the same language, which Elizabeth
+Eliza understood so well that she concluded she had at last met with a
+true Parisian, and ventured on more conversation, when suddenly they
+both found they were talking in English, and Elizabeth Eliza exclaimed,
+"I am so glad to meet an American," at the moment that her companion was
+saying, "Then you are an Englishwoman!"
+</p>
+<p>
+From this moment Elizabeth Eliza was at ease, and indeed both parties
+were mutually pleased. Elizabeth Eliza's new friend was one of a large
+party, and she was delighted to find that they too were planning a
+winter in Egypt. They were waiting till a friend should have completed
+her "cure" at Pau, and the Peterkins were glad also to wait for the
+appearance of Agamemnon, who might arrive in the next steamer.
+</p>
+<p>
+One of the little boys was sure he had heard Agamemnon's voice the
+morning after they left New York, and was certain he must have been on
+board the vessel. Mr. Peterkin was not so sure. He now remembered that
+Agamemnon had not been at the dinner-table the very first evening; but
+then neither Mrs. Peterkin nor Solomon John was able to be present, as
+the vessel was tossing in a most uncomfortable manner, and nothing but
+dinner could have kept the little boys at table. Solomon John knew that
+Agamemnon had not been in his own stateroom during the passage, but he
+himself had seldom left it, and it had been always planned that
+Agamemnon should share that of a fellow-passenger.
+</p>
+<p>
+However this might be, it would be best to leave Marseilles with the
+English party by the "P. &amp; O." steamer. This was one of the English
+"Peninsular and Oriental" line, that left Marseilles for Alexandria,
+Egypt, and made a return trip directly to Southampton, England. Mr.
+Peterkin thought it might be advisable to take "go-and-return" tickets,
+coming back to Southampton; and Mrs. Peterkin liked the idea of no
+change of baggage, though she dreaded the longer voyage. Elizabeth Eliza
+approved of this return trip in the P. &amp; O. steamer, and decided it
+would give a good opportunity to dispose of her canary-birds on her
+return.
+</p>
+<p>
+The family therefore consoled themselves at Marseilles with the belief
+that Agamemnon would appear somehow. If not, Mr. Peterkin thought he
+could telegraph him from Marseilles, if he only knew where to telegraph
+to. But at Marseilles there was great confusion at the Hôtel de
+Noailles; for the English party met other friends, who persuaded them to
+take route together by Brindisi. Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to continue
+with her new English friend, and Solomon John was delighted with the
+idea of passing through the whole length of Italy. But the sight of the
+long journey, as she saw it on the map in the guide-book, terrified Mrs.
+Peterkin. And Mr. Peterkin had taken their tickets for the Marseilles
+line. Elizabeth Eliza still dwelt upon the charm of crossing under the
+Alps, while this very idea alarmed Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the last morning the matter was still undecided. On leaving the
+hotel, it was necessary for the party to divide and take two omnibuses.
+Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin reached the steamer at the moment of departure,
+and suddenly Mrs. Peterkin found they were leaving the shore. As they
+crossed the broad gangway to reach the deck, she had not noticed they
+had left the pier; indeed, she had supposed that the steamer was one she
+saw out in the offing, and that they would be obliged to take a boat to
+reach it. She hurried from the group of travellers whom she had followed
+to find Mr. Peterkin reading from his guide-book to the little boys an
+explanation that they were passing the Château d'If, from which the
+celebrated historical character the Count of Monte Cristo had escaped by
+flinging himself into the sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is Elizabeth Eliza? Where is Solomon John?" Mrs. Peterkin
+exclaimed, seizing Mr. Peterkin's arm. Where indeed? There was a pile
+of the hand-baggage of the family, but not that of Elizabeth Eliza, not
+even the bird-cage. "It was on the top of the other omnibus," exclaimed
+Mrs. Peterkin. Yes, one of the little boys had seen it on the pavement
+of the court-yard of the hotel, and had carried it to the omnibus in
+which Elizabeth Eliza was sitting. He had seen her through the window.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is that other omnibus?" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin, looking vaguely
+over the deck, as they were fast retreating from the shore. "Ask
+somebody what became of that other omnibus!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps
+they have gone with the English people," suggested Mr. Peterkin; but he
+went to the officers of the boat, and attempted to explain in French
+that one half of his family had been left behind. He was relieved to
+find that the officers could understand his French, though they did not
+talk English. They declared, however, it was utterly impossible to turn
+back. They were already two minutes and a half behind time on account of
+waiting for a party who had been very long in crossing the gangway.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin returned gloomily with the little boys to Mrs. Peterkin.
+"We cannot go back," he said, "we must content ourselves with going on;
+but I conclude we can telegraph from Malta. We can send a message to
+Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John, telling them that they can take the
+next Marseilles P. &amp; O. steamer in ten days, or that they can go back
+to Southampton for the next boat, which leaves at the end of this week.
+And Elizabeth Eliza may decide upon this," Mr. Peterkin concluded, "on
+account of passing so near the Canary Isles."
+</p>
+<p>
+"She will be glad to be rid of the birds," said Mrs. Peterkin, calming
+herself.
+</p>
+<p>
+These anxieties, however, were swallowed up in new trials. Mrs. Peterkin
+found that she must share her cabin (she found it was called "cabin,"
+and not "stateroom," which bothered her and made her feel like Robinson
+Crusoe),&mdash;her cabin she must share with some strange ladies, while Mr.
+Peterkin and the little boys were carried to another part of the ship.
+Mrs. Peterkin remonstrated, delighted to find that her English was
+understood, though it was not listened to. It was explained to her
+that every family was divided in this way, and that she would meet Mr.
+Peterkin and the little boys at meal-times in the large <i>salon</i>&mdash;on
+which all the cabins opened&mdash;and on deck; and she was obliged to content
+herself with this. Whenever they met their time was spent in concocting
+a form of telegram to send from Malta. It would be difficult to bring it
+into the required number of words, as it would be necessary to suggest
+three different plans to Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John. Besides
+the two they had already discussed, there was to be considered the
+possibility of their having joined the English party. But Mrs. Peterkin
+was sure they must have gone back first to the Hôtel de Noailles, to
+which they could address their telegram.
+</p>
+<p>
+She found, meanwhile, the ladies in her cabin very kind and agreeable.
+They were mothers returning to India, who had been home to England to
+leave their children, as they were afraid to expose them longer to the
+climate of India. Mrs. Peterkin could have sympathetic talks with them
+over their family photographs. Mrs. Peterkin's family-book was, alas!
+in Elizabeth Eliza's hand-bag. It contained the family photographs,
+from early childhood upward, and was a large volume, representing the
+children at every age.
+</p>
+<p>
+At Malta, as he supposed, Mr. Peterkin and the little boys landed, in
+order to send their telegram. Indeed, all of the gentlemen among the
+passengers, and some of the ladies, gladly went on shore to visit the
+points of interest that could be seen in the time allotted. The steamer
+was to take in coal, and would not leave till early the next morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin did not accompany them. She still had her fears about
+leaving the ship and returning to it, although it had been so quietly
+accomplished at Marseilles.
+</p>
+<p>
+The party returned late at night, after Mrs. Peterkin had gone to her
+cabin. The next morning, she found the ship was in motion, but she did
+not find Mr. Peterkin and the little boys at the breakfast-table as
+usual. She was told that the party who went on shore had all been to
+the opera, and had returned at a late hour to the steamer, and would
+naturally be late at breakfast. Mrs. Peterkin went on deck to await
+them, and look for Malta as it seemed to retreat in the distance. But
+the day passed on, and neither Mr. Peterkin nor either of the little
+boys appeared! She tried to calm herself with the thought that they must
+need sleep; but all the rest of the passengers appeared, relating their
+different adventures. At last she sent the steward to inquire for them.
+He came back with one of the officers of the boat, much disturbed, to
+say that they could not be found; they must have been left behind. There
+was great excitement, and deep interest expressed for Mrs. Peterkin. One
+of the officers was very surly, and declared he could not be responsible
+for the inanity of passengers. Another was more courteous. Mrs. Peterkin
+asked if they could not go back,&mdash;if, at least, she could not be put
+back. He explained how this would be impossible, but that the company
+would telegraph when they reached Alexandria.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin calmed herself as well as she could, though indeed she was
+bewildered by her position. She was to land in Alexandria alone, and the
+landing she was told would be especially difficult. The steamer would
+not be able to approach the shore; the passengers would go down the
+sides of the ship, and be lifted off the steps, by Arabs, into a felucca
+(whatever that was) below. She shuddered at the prospect. It was darker
+than her gloomiest fancies had pictured. Would it not be better to
+remain in the ship, go back to Southampton, perhaps meet Elizabeth Eliza
+there, picking up Mr. Peterkin at Malta on the way? But at this moment
+she discovered that she was not on a "P. &amp; O." steamer,&mdash;it was a French
+steamer of the "Messagerie" line; they had stopped at Messina, and not
+at Malta. She could not go back to Southampton, so she was told by an
+English colonel on his way to India. He indeed was very courteous, and
+advised her to "go to an hotel" at Alexandria with some of the ladies,
+and send her telegrams from there. To whom, however, would she wish to
+send a telegram?
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is Mr. Peterkin's banker?" asked the Colonel. Alas! Mrs. Peterkin
+did not know. He had at first selected a banker in London, but had
+afterward changed his mind and talked of a banker in Paris; and she was
+not sure what was his final decision. She had known the name of the
+London banker, but had forgotten it, because she had written it down,
+and she never did remember the things she wrote down in her book. That
+was her old memorandum-book, and she had left it at home because she had
+brought a new one for her travels. She was sorry now she had not kept
+the old book. This, however, was not of so much importance, as it did
+not contain the name of the Paris banker; and this she had never heard.
+"Elizabeth Eliza would know;" but how could she reach Elizabeth Eliza?
+</p>
+<p>
+Some one asked if there were not some friend in America to whom she
+could appeal, if she did not object to using the ocean telegraph.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a friend in America," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to whom we all of
+us do go for advice, and who always does help us. She lives in
+Philadelphia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not telegraph to her for advice?" asked her friends.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin gladly agreed that it would be the best plan. The expense
+of the cablegram would be nothing in comparison with the assistance the
+answer would bring.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her new friends then invited her to accompany them to their hotel
+in Alexandria, from which she could send her despatch. The thought
+of thus being able to reach her hand across the sea to the lady from
+Philadelphia gave Mrs. Peterkin fresh courage,&mdash;courage even to make the
+landing. As she descended the side of the ship and was guided down the
+steps, she closed her eyes that she might not see herself lifted into
+the many-oared boat by the wild-looking Arabs, of whom she had caught
+a glimpse from above. But she could not close her ears; and as they
+approached the shore, strange sounds almost deafened her. She closed her
+eyes again, as she was lifted from the boat and heard the wild yells and
+shrieks around her. There was a clashing of brass, a jingling of bells,
+and the screams grew more and more terrific. If she did open her eyes,
+she saw wild figures gesticulating, dark faces, gay costumes, crowds of
+men and boys, donkeys, horses, even camels, in the distance. She closed
+her eyes once more as she was again lifted. Should she now find herself
+on the back of one of those high camels? Perhaps for this she came to
+Egypt. But when she looked round again, she found she was leaning back
+in a comfortable open carriage, with a bottle of salts at her nose. She
+was in the midst of a strange whirl of excitement; but all the party
+were bewildered, and she had scarcely recovered her composure when they
+reached the hotel.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here a comfortable meal and rest somewhat restored them. By the next day
+a messenger from the boat brought her the return telegram from Messina.
+Mr. Peterkin and family, left behind by the "Messagerie" steamer, had
+embarked the next day by steamer, probably for Naples.
+</p>
+<p>
+More anxious than ever was Mrs. Peterkin to send her despatch. It was
+too late the day of their arrival; but at an early hour next day it was
+sent, and after a day had elapsed, the answer came:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+  "All meet at the Sphinx."
+</p>
+<p>
+Everything now seemed plain. The words were few but clear. Her English
+friends were going directly to Cairo, and she accompanied them.
+</p>
+<p>
+After reaching Cairo, the whole party were obliged to rest awhile. They
+would indeed go with Mrs. Peterkin on her first visit to the Sphinx, as
+to see the Sphinx and ascend the pyramid formed part of their programme.
+But many delays occurred to detain them, and Mrs. Peterkin had resolved
+to carry out completely the advice of the telegram. She would sit every
+day before the Sphinx. She found that as yet there was no hotel exactly
+in front of the Sphinx, nor indeed on that side of the river, and she
+would be obliged to make the excursion of nine miles there and nine
+miles back, each day. But there would always be a party of travellers
+whom she could accompany. Each day she grew more and more accustomed to
+the bewildering sights and sounds about her, and more and more willing
+to intrust herself to the dark-colored guides. At last, chafing at so
+many delays, she decided to make the expedition without her new friends.
+She had made some experiments in riding upon a donkey, and found she was
+seldom thrown, and could not be hurt by the slight fall.
+</p>
+<p>
+And so, one day, Mrs. Peterkin sat alone in front of the Sphinx,&mdash;alone,
+as far as her own family and friends were concerned, and yet not alone
+indeed. A large crowd of guides sat around this strange lady who
+proposed to spend the day in front of the Sphinx. Clad in long white
+robes, with white turbans crowning their dark faces, they gazed into her
+eyes with something of the questioning expression with which she herself
+was looking into the eyes of the Sphinx.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were other travellers wandering about. Just now her own party had
+collected to eat their lunch together; but they were scattered again,
+and she sat with a circle of Arabs about her, the watchful dragoman
+lingering near.
+</p>
+<p>
+Somehow the Eastern languor must have stolen upon her, or she could not
+have sat so calmly, not knowing where a single member of her family was
+at that moment. And she had dreaded Egypt so; had feared separation; had
+even been a little afraid of the Sphinx, upon which she was now looking
+as at a protecting angel. But they all were to meet at the Sphinx!
+</p>
+<p>
+If only she could have seen where the different members of the family
+were at that moment, she could not have sat so quietly. She little knew
+that a tall form, not far away (following some guides down into the
+lower halls of a lately excavated temple), with a blue veil wrapped
+about a face shielded with smoke-colored spectacles, was that of
+Elizabeth Eliza herself, from whom she had been separated two weeks
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+She little knew that at this moment Solomon John was standing looking
+over the edge of the Matterhorn, wishing he had not come up so high. But
+such a gay young party had set off that morning from the hotel that he
+had supposed it an easy thing to join them; and now he would fain go
+back, but was tied to the rest of his party with their guide preceding
+them, and he must keep on and crawl up behind them, still farther, on
+hands and knees.
+</p>
+<p>
+Agamemnon was at Mycenæ, looking down into an open pit.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two of the little boys were roasting eggs in the crater of Mount
+Vesuvius.
+</p>
+<p>
+And she would have seen Mr. Peterkin comfortably reclining in a gondola,
+with one of the little boys, in front of the palaces of Venice.
+</p>
+<p>
+But none of this she saw; she only looked into the eyes of the Sphinx.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0010" id="h2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    VII.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID.
+</h3>
+<p>
+"Meet at the Sphinx!" Yes; these were the words that the lady from
+Philadelphia had sent in answer to the several telegrams that had
+reached her from each member of the Peterkin family. She had received
+these messages while staying in a remote country town, but she could
+communicate with the cable line by means of the telegraph office at a
+railway station. The intelligent operator, seeing the same date affixed
+at the close of each message, "took in," as she afterward expressed it,
+that it was the date of the day on which the message was sent; and as
+this was always prefixed to every despatch, she did not add it to the
+several messages. She afterward expressed herself as sorry for the
+mistake, and declared it should not occur another time.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza was the first at the appointed spot, as her route had
+been somewhat shorter than the one her mother had taken. A wild joy had
+seized her when she landed in Egypt, and saw the frequent and happy use
+of the donkey as a beast of travel. She had never ventured to ride at
+home, and had always shuddered at the daring of the women who rode at
+the circuses, and closed her eyes at their performances. But as soon as
+she saw the little Egyptian donkeys, a mania for riding possessed her.
+She was so tall that she could scarcely, under any circumstances, fall
+from them, while she could mount them with as much ease as she could the
+arm of the sofa at home, and most of the animals seemed as harmless. It
+is true, the donkey-boys gave her the wrong word to use when she might
+wish to check the pace of her donkey, and mischievously taught her to
+avoid the soothing phrase of <i>beschwesch</i>, giving her instead one
+that should goad the beast she rode to its highest speed; but Elizabeth
+Eliza was so delighted with the quick pace that she was continually
+urging her donkey onward, to the surprise and delight of each fresh
+attendant donkey-boy. He would run at a swift pace after her, stopping
+sometimes to pick up a loose slipper, if it were shuffled off from his
+foot in his quick run, but always bringing up even in the end.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza's party had made a quick journey by the route from
+Brindisi, and proceeding directly to Cairo, had stopped at a small
+French hotel not very far from Mrs. Peterkin and her party. Every
+morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her visit to the Sphinx,
+arriving there always the first one of her own party, and spending the
+rest of the day in explorations about the neighborhood.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a>
+
+
+<div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 15%; text-align: center; text-indent:0; font-variant: small-caps;">
+<a href="images/illust-01.jpg">
+<img src="images/illust-01.jpg" style="width: 100%;"
+alt="Every Morning at an Early Hour Elizabeth Eliza Made Her Visit to the Sphinx." /></a><br />
+Every Morning at an Early Hour Elizabeth Eliza Made Her Visit to the Sphinx.
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin, meanwhile, set out each day at a later hour, arriving
+in time to take her noon lunch in front of the Sphinx, after which she
+indulged in a comfortable nap and returned to the hotel before sunset.
+</p>
+<p>
+A week&mdash;indeed, ten days&mdash;passed in this way. One morning, Mrs. Peterkin
+and her party had taken the ferry-boat to cross the Nile. As they were
+leaving the boat on the other side, in the usual crowd, Mrs. Peterkin's
+attention was arrested by a familiar voice. She turned, to see a tall
+young man who, though he wore a red fez upon his head and a scarlet wrap
+around his neck, certainly resembled Agamemnon. But this Agamemnon was
+talking Greek, with gesticulations. She was so excited that she turned
+to follow him through the crowd, thus separating herself from the rest
+of her party. At once she found herself surrounded by a mob of Arabs, in
+every kind of costume, all screaming and yelling in the manner to which
+she was becoming accustomed. Poor Mrs. Peterkin plaintively protested in
+English, exclaiming, "I should prefer a donkey!" but the Arabs could not
+understand her strange words. They had, however, struck the ear of the
+young man in the red fez whom she had been following. He turned, and she
+gazed at him. It was Agamemnon!
+</p>
+<p>
+He, meanwhile, was separated from his party, and hardly knew how to
+grapple with the urgent Arabs. His recently acquired Greek did not
+assist him, and he was advising his mother to yield and mount one of the
+steeds, while he followed on another, when, happily, the dragoman of her
+party appeared. He administered a volley of rebukes to the persistent
+Arabs, and bore Mrs. Peterkin to her donkey. She was thus carried away
+from Agamemnon, who was also mounted upon a donkey by his companions.
+But their destination was the same; and though they could hold no
+conversation on the way, Agamemnon could join his mother as they
+approached the Sphinx.
+</p>
+<p>
+But he and his party were to ascend the pyramid before going on to the
+Sphinx, and he advised his mother to do the same. He explained that it
+was a perfectly easy thing to do. You had only to lift one of your feet
+up quite high, as though you were going to step on the mantelpiece, and
+an Arab on each side would lift you to the next step. Mrs. Peterkin was
+sure she could not step up on their mantelpieces at home. She never had
+done it,&mdash;she never had even tried to. But Agamemnon reminded her that
+those in their own house were very high,&mdash;"old colonial;" and meanwhile
+she found herself carried along with the rest of the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+At first the ascent was delightful to her. It seemed as if she were
+flying. The powerful Nubian guides, one on each side, lifted her
+jauntily up, without her being conscious of motion. Having seen them
+daily for some time past, she was now not much afraid of these handsome
+athletes, with their polished black skins, set off by dazzling white
+garments. She called out to Agamemnon, who had preceded her, that it was
+charming; she was not at all afraid. Every now and then she stopped to
+rest on the broad cornice made by each retreating step. Suddenly, when
+she was about half-way up, as she leaned back against the step above,
+she found herself panting and exhausted. A strange faintness came over
+her. She was looking off over a beautiful scene: through the wide Libyan
+desert the blue Nile wound between borders of green edging, while the
+picturesque minarets of Cairo, on the opposite side of the river, and
+the sand in the distance beyond, gleamed with a red and yellow light
+beneath the rays of the noonday sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the picture danced and wavered before her dizzy sight. She sat
+there alone; for Agamemnon and the rest had passed on, thinking she was
+stopping to rest. She seemed deserted, save by the speechless black
+statues, one on either side, who, as she seemed to be fainting before
+their eyes, were looking at her in some anxiety. She saw dimly these
+wild men gazing at her. She thought of Mungo Park, dying with the
+African women singing about him. How little she had ever dreamed, when
+she read that account in her youth, and gazed at the savage African
+faces in the picture, that she might be left to die in the same way
+alone, in a strange land&mdash;and on the side of a pyramid! Her guides were
+kindly. One of them took her shawl to wrap about her, as she seemed to
+be shivering; and as a party coming down from the top had a jar of
+water, one of her Nubians moistened a handkerchief with water and laid
+it upon her head. Mrs. Peterkin had closed her eyes, but she opened them
+again, to see the black figures in their white draperies still standing
+by her. The travellers coming down paused a few minutes to wonder and
+give counsel, then passed on, to make way for another party following
+them. Again Mrs. Peterkin closed her eyes, but once more opened them at
+hearing a well-known shout,&mdash;such a shout as only one of the Peterkin
+family could give,&mdash;one of the little boys!
+</p>
+<p>
+Yes, he stood before her, and Agamemnon was behind; they had met on top
+of the pyramid.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sight was indeed a welcome one to Mrs. Peterkin, and revived her so
+that she even began to ask questions: "Where had he come from? Where
+were the other little boys? Where was Mr. Peterkin?" No one could tell
+where the other little boys were. And the sloping side of the pyramid,
+with a fresh party waiting to pass up and the guides eager to go down,
+was not just the place to explain the long, confused story. All that
+Mrs. Peterkin could understand was that Mr. Peterkin was now, probably,
+inside the pyramid, beneath her very feet! Agamemnon had found this
+solitary "little boy" on top of the pyramid, accompanied by a guide and
+one of the party that he and his father had joined on leaving Venice. At
+the foot of the pyramid there had been some dispute in the party as to
+whether they should first go up the pyramid, or down inside, and in the
+altercation the party was divided; the little boy had been sure that his
+father meant to go up first, and so he had joined the guide who went up.
+But where was Mr. Peterkin? Probably in the innermost depths of the
+pyramid below. As soon as Mrs. Peterkin understood this, she was eager
+to go down, in spite of her late faintness; even to tumble down would
+help her to meet Mr. Peterkin the sooner. She was lifted from stone to
+stone by the careful Nubians. Agamemnon had already emptied his pocket
+of coins, in supplying backsheesh to his guide, and all were anxious to
+reach the foot of the pyramid and find the dragoman, who could answer
+the demands of the others.
+</p>
+<p>
+Breathless as she was, as soon as she had descended, Mrs. Peterkin was
+anxious to make for the entrance to the inside. Before, she had declared
+that nothing would induce her to go into the pyramid. She was afraid of
+being lost in its stairways and shut up forever as a mummy. But now she
+forgot all her terrors; she must find Mr. Peterkin at once!
+</p>
+<p>
+She was the first to plunge down the narrow stairway after the guide,
+and was grateful to find the steps so easy to descend. But they
+presently came out into a large, open room, where no stairway was to be
+seen. On the contrary, she was invited to mount the shoulders of a burly
+Nubian, to reach a large hole half-way up the side-wall (higher than any
+mantelpiece), and to crawl through this hole along the passage till she
+should reach another stairway. Mrs. Peterkin paused. Could she trust
+these men? Was not this a snare to entice her into one of these narrow
+passages? Agamemnon was far behind. Could Mr. Peterkin have ventured
+into this treacherous place?
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment a head appeared through the opening above, followed by a
+body. It was that of one of the native guides. Voices were heard coming
+through the passage: one voice had a twang to it that surely Mrs.
+Peterkin had heard before. Another head appeared now, bound with a blue
+veil, while the eyes were hidden by green goggles. Yet Mrs. Peterkin
+could not be mistaken,&mdash;it was&mdash;yes, it was the head of Elizabeth Eliza!
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed as though that were all, it was so difficult to bring forward
+any more of her. Mrs. Peterkin was screaming from below, asking if it
+were indeed Elizabeth Eliza, while excitement at recognizing her mother
+made it more difficult for Elizabeth Eliza to extricate herself. But
+travellers below and behind urged her on, and with the assistance of the
+guides, she pushed forward and almost fell into the arms of her mother.
+Mrs. Peterkin was wild with joy as Agamemnon and his brother joined
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Mr. Peterkin!" at last exclaimed their mother. "Did you see
+anything of your father?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is behind," said Elizabeth Eliza. "I was looking for the body of
+Chufu, the founder of the pyramid,&mdash;for I have longed to be the
+discoverer of his mummy,&mdash;and I found instead&mdash;my father!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin looked up, and at that moment saw Mr. Peterkin emerging
+from the passage above. He was carefully planting one foot on the
+shoulder of a stalwart Nubian guide. He was very red in the face, from
+recent exertion, but he was indeed Mr. Peterkin. On hearing the cry of
+Mrs. Peterkin, he tottered, and would have fallen but for the support of
+the faithful guide.
+</p>
+<p>
+The narrow place was scarcely large enough to hold their joy. Mrs.
+Peterkin was ready to faint again with her great excitement. She wanted
+to know what had become of the other little boys, and if Mr. Peterkin
+had heard from Solomon John. But the small space was becoming more and
+more crowded. The dragomans from the different parties with which the
+Peterkins were connected came to announce their several luncheons, and
+insisted upon their leaving the pyramid.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin's dragoman wanted her to go on directly to the Sphinx, and
+she still clung to the belief that only then would there be a complete
+reunion of the family. Yet she could not separate herself from the rest.
+They could not let her go, and they were all hungry, and she herself
+felt the need of food.
+</p>
+<p>
+But with the confusion of so many luncheons, and so much explanation to
+be gone through with, it was difficult to get an answer to her
+questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth and her father were involved in a discussion as to whether
+they should have met if he had not gone into the queen's chamber in the
+pyramid. For if he had not gone to the queen's chamber he would have
+left the inside of the pyramid before Mrs. Peterkin reached it, and
+would have missed her, as he was too fatigued to make the ascent. And
+Elizabeth Eliza, if she had not met her father, had planned going back
+to the king's chamber in another search for the body of Chufu, in which
+case she would have been too late to meet her mother. Mrs. Peterkin was
+not much interested in this discussion; it was enough that they had met.
+But she could not get answers to what she considered more important
+questions; while Elizabeth Eliza, though delighted to meet again her
+father and mother and brothers, and though interested in the fate of the
+missing ones, was absorbed in the Egyptian question; and the mingling of
+all their interests made satisfactory intercourse impracticable.
+</p>
+<p>
+Where was Solomon John? What had become of the body of Chufu? Had
+Solomon John been telegraphed to? When had Elizabeth Eliza seen him
+last? Was he Chufu or Shufu, and why Cheops? and where were the other
+little boys?
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Peterkin attempted to explain that he had taken a steamer from
+Messina to the south of Italy, and a southern route to Brindisi. By
+mistake he had taken the steamer from Alexandria, on its way to Venice,
+instead of the one that was leaving Brindisi for Alexandria at the same
+hour. Indeed, just as he had discovered his mistake, and had seen the
+other boat steaming off by his side in the other direction, too late he
+fancied he saw the form of Elizabeth Eliza on deck, leaning over the
+taffrail (if it was a taffrail). It was a tall lady, with a blue veil
+wound around her hat. Was it possible? Could he have been in time to
+reach Elizabeth Eliza? His explanation only served to increase the
+number of questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin had many more. How had Agamemnon reached them? Had he
+come to Bordeaux with them? But Agamemnon and Elizabeth Eliza were
+now discussing with others the number of feet that the Great Pyramid
+measured. The remaining members of all the parties, too, whose hunger
+and thirst were now fully satisfied, were ready to proceed to the
+Sphinx, which only Mrs. Peterkin and Elizabeth Eliza had visited.
+</p>
+<p>
+Side by side on their donkeys, Mrs. Peterkin attempted to learn
+something from Mr. Peterkin about the other little boys. But his donkey
+proved restive: now it bore him on in swift flight from Mrs. Peterkin;
+now it would linger behind. His words were jerked out only at intervals.
+All that could be said was that they were separated; the little boys
+wanted to go to Vesuvius, but Mr. Peterkin felt they must hurry to
+Brindisi. At a station where the two trains parted&mdash;one for Naples, the
+other for Brindisi&mdash;he found suddenly, too late, that they were not with
+him; they must have gone on to Naples. But where were they now?
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0011" id="h2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    VIII.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS.
+</h3>
+<p>
+The expedition up the Nile had taken place successfully. The Peterkin
+family had reached Cairo again,&mdash;at least, its scattered remnant was
+there, and they were now to consider what next.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin would like to spend her life in the dahabieh,<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> though
+she could not pronounce its name, and she still felt the strangeness
+of the scenes about her. However, she had only to look out upon the
+mud villages on the bank to see that she was in the veritable "Africa"
+she had seen pictured in the geography of her childhood. If further
+corroboration were required, had she not, only the day before, when
+accompanied by no one but a little donkey-boy, shuddered to meet a
+strange Nubian, attired principally in hair that stood out from his
+savage face in frizzes at least half a yard long?
+</p>
+<p>
+But oh the comforts of no trouble in housekeeping on board the dahabieh!
+Never to know what they were to have for dinner, nor to be asked what
+they would like, and yet always to have a dinner you could ask chance
+friends to, knowing all would be perfectly served! Some of the party
+with whom they had engaged their dahabieh had even brought canned baked
+beans from New England, which seemed to make their happiness complete.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Though we see beans here," said Mrs. Peterkin, "they are not 'Boston
+beans'!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She had fancied she would have to live on stuffed ostrich (ostrich
+stuffed with iron filings, that the books tell of), or fried
+hippopotamus, or boiled rhinoceros. But she met with none of these, and
+day after day was rejoiced to find her native turkey appearing on the
+table, with pigeons and chickens (though the chickens, to be sure, were
+scarcely larger than the pigeons), and lamb that was really not more
+tough than that of New Hampshire and the White Mountains.
+</p>
+<p>
+If they dined with the Arabs, there was indeed a kind of dark
+molasses-gingerbread-looking cake, with curds in it, that she found it
+hard to eat. "But <i>they</i> like it," she said complacently.
+</p>
+<p>
+The remaining little boy, too, smiled over his pile of ripe bananas, as
+he thought of the quarter-of-a-dollar-a-half-dozen green ones at that
+moment waiting at the corners of the streets at home. Indeed, it was a
+land for boys. There were the dates, both fresh and dried,&mdash;far more
+juicy than those learned at school; and there was the gingerbread-nut
+tree, the dôm palm, that bore a nut tasting "like baker's gingerbread
+that has been kept a few days in the shop," as the remaining little boy
+remarked. And he wished for his brothers when the live dinner came on
+board their boat, at the stopping-places, in the form of good-sized
+sheep struggling on the shoulders of stout Arabs, or an armful of live
+hens and pigeons.
+</p>
+<p>
+All the family (or as much of it as was present) agreed with Mrs.
+Peterkin's views. Amanda at home had seemed quite a blessing, but at
+this distance her services, compared with the attentions of their
+Maltese dragoman and the devotion of their Arab servants, seemed of
+doubtful value, and even Mrs. Peterkin dreaded returning to her tender
+mercies.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just imagine inviting the Russian Count to dinner at home&mdash;and Amanda!"
+exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And he came to dinner at least three times a week on board the boat,"
+said the remaining little boy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Arabs are so convenient about carrying one's umbrellas and shawls,"
+said Elizabeth Eliza. "How I should miss Hassan in picking up my blue
+veil!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The family recalled many anecdotes of the shortcomings of Amanda, as
+Mrs. Peterkin leaned back upon her divan and wafted a fly-whisk. Mr.
+Peterkin had expended large sums in telegrams from every point where he
+found the telegraph in operation; but there was no reply from Solomon
+John, and none from the two little boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+By a succession of telegrams they had learned that no one had fallen
+into the crater of Vesuvius in the course of the last six months, not
+even a little boy. This was consoling.
+</p>
+<p>
+By letters from the lady from Philadelphia, they learned that she had
+received Solomon John's telegram from Geneva at the time she heard
+from the rest of the family, and one signed "L. Boys" from Naples. But
+neither of these telegrams gave an address for return answers, which
+she had, however, sent to Geneva and Naples, with the fatal omission by
+the operator (as she afterward learned) of the date, as in the other
+telegrams.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin therefore disliked to be long away from the Sphinx, and
+their excursion up the Nile had been shortened on this account. All
+the Nubian guides near the pyramids had been furnished with additional
+backsheesh and elaborate explanations from Mr. Peterkin as to how they
+should send him information if Solomon John and the little boys should
+turn up at the Sphinx,&mdash;for all the family agreed they would probably
+appear in Egypt together.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin regretted not having any photographs to leave with the
+guides; but Elizabeth Eliza, alas! had lost at Brindisi the hand-bag
+that contained the family photograph-book.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin would have liked to take up her residence near the Sphinx
+for the rest of the year. But every one warned her that the heat of an
+Egyptian summer would not allow her to stay at Cairo,&mdash;scarcely even on
+the sea-shore, at Alexandria.
+</p>
+<p>
+How thankful was Mrs. Peterkin, a few months after, when the war in
+Egypt broke out, that her wishes had not been yielded to! For many
+nights she could not sleep, picturing how they all might have been
+massacred by the terrible mob in Alexandria.
+</p>
+<p>
+Intelligence of Solomon John led them to take their departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+One day, they were discussing at the <i>table d'hôte</i> their letters
+from the lady from Philadelphia, and how they showed that Solomon John
+had been at Geneva.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, there was his mistake!" said Elizabeth Eliza. "The Doolittles left
+Marseilles with us, and were to branch off for Geneva, and we kept on to
+Genoa, and Solomon John was always mistaking Genoa for Geneva, as we
+planned our route. I remember there was a great confusion when they got
+off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I always mix up Geneva and Genoa," said Mrs. Peterkin. "I feel as if
+they were the same."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are quite different," said Elizabeth Eliza; "and Genoa lay in our
+route, while Geneva took him into Switzerland."
+</p>
+<p>
+An English gentleman, on the opposite side of the table, then spoke to
+Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I beg pardon," he said. "I think I met one of your name in Athens.
+He attracted our attention because he went every day to the same spot,
+and he told us he expected to meet his family there,&mdash;that he had an
+appointment by telegraph&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In Athens!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was his name Solomon John?" asked Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Were there two little boys?" inquired Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"His initials were the same as mine," replied the
+Englishman,&mdash;"S.J.P.,&mdash;for some of his luggage came by mistake into my
+room, and that is why I spoke of it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there a Sphinx in Athens?" Mrs. Peterkin inquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There used to be one there," said Agamemnon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I beg your pardon," said the Englishman, "but that Sphinx never was in
+Athens."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Solomon John may have made the mistake,&mdash;we all make our mistakes,"
+said Mrs. Peterkin, tying her bonnet-strings, as if ready to go to meet
+Solomon John at that moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Sphinx was at Thebes in the days of &amp;OElig;dipus," said the
+Englishman. "No one would expect to find it anywhere in Greece at the
+present day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But was Solomon John inquiring for it?" asked Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed, no!" answered the Englishman; "he went every day to the Pnyx, a
+famous hill in Athens, where his telegram had warned him he should meet
+his friends."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Pnyx!" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin; "and how do you spell it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"P-n-y-x!" cried Agamemnon,&mdash;"the same letters as in Sphinx!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All but the <i>s</i> and the <i>h</i> and the <i>y</i>" said Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I often spell Sphinx with a <i>y</i> myself," said Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And a telegraph-operator makes such mistakes!" said Agamemnon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"His telegram had been forwarded to him from Switzerland," said the
+Englishman; "it had followed him into the dolomite region, and must have
+been translated many timed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And of course they could not all have been expected to keep the letters
+in the right order," said Elizabeth Eliza.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And were there two little boys with him?" repeated Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+No; there were no little boys. But further inquiries satisfied the
+family that Solomon John must be awaiting them in Athens. And how
+natural the mistake! Mrs. Peterkin said that if she had known of a Pnyx,
+she should surely have looked for the family there.
+</p>
+<p>
+Should they then meet Solomon John at the Pnyx, or summon him to Egypt?
+It seemed safer to go directly to Athens, especially as Mr. Peterkin and
+Agamemnon were anxious to visit that city.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was found that a steamer would leave Alexandria next day for Athens,
+by way of Smyrna and Constantinople. This was a roundabout course;
+but Mr. Peterkin was impatient to leave, and was glad to gain more
+acquaintance with the world. Meanwhile they could telegraph their plans
+to Solomon John, as the English gentleman could give them the address of
+his hotel.
+</p>
+<p>
+And Mrs. Peterkin did not now shrink from another voyage. Her experience
+on the Nile had made her forget her sufferings in crossing the Atlantic,
+and she no longer dreaded entering another steamboat. Their delight in
+river navigation, indeed, had been so great that the whole family had
+listened with interest to the descriptions given by their Russian
+fellow-traveller of steamboat navigation on the Volga&mdash;"the most
+beautiful river in the world," as he declared. Elizabeth Eliza and Mr.
+Peterkin were eager to try it, and Agamemnon remarked that such a trip
+would give them an opportunity to visit the renowned fair at
+Nijninovgorod. Even Mrs. Peterkin had consented to this expedition,
+provided they should meet Solomon John and the other little boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+She started, therefore, on a fresh voyage without any dread, forgetting
+that the Mediterranean, if not so wide as the Atlantic, is still a sea,
+and often as tempestuous and uncomfortably "choppy." Alas! she was soon
+to be awakened from her forgetfulness: the sea was the same old enemy.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they passed up among the Ionian Isles, and she heard Agamemnon and
+Elizabeth Eliza and their Russian friend (who was accompanying them to
+Constantinople) talking of the old gods of Greece, she fancied that they
+were living still, and that Neptune and the classic waves were wreaking
+their vengeance on them, and pounding and punishing them for venturing
+to rule them with steam. She was fairly terrified. As they entered
+Smyrna she declared she would never enter any kind of a boat again, and
+that Mr. Peterkin must find some way by which they could reach home by
+land.
+</p>
+<p>
+How delightful it was to draw near the shore, on a calm afternoon,&mdash;even
+to trust herself to the charge of the boatmen in leaving the ship, and
+to reach land once more and meet the tumult of voices and people! Here
+were the screaming and shouting usual in the East, and the same bright
+array of turbans and costumes in the crowd awaiting them. But a
+well-known voice reached them, and from the crowd rose a well-known
+face. Even before they reached the land they had recognized its owner.
+With his American dress, he looked almost foreign in contrast to the
+otherwise universal Eastern color. A tall figure on either side seemed,
+also, each to have a familiar air.
+</p>
+<p>
+Were there three Solomon Johns?
+</p>
+<p>
+No; it was Solomon John and the two other little boys&mdash;but grown so that
+they were no longer little boys. Even Mrs. Peterkin was unable to
+recognize them at first. But the tones of their voices, their ways, were
+as natural as ever. Each had a banana in his hand, and pockets stuffed
+with oranges.
+</p>
+<p>
+Questions and answers interrupted each other in a most confusing
+manner:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you the little boys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where have you been?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you go to Vesuvius?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"How did you get away?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why didn't you come sooner?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our India-rubber boots stuck in the hot lava."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you been there all this time?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; we left them there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you had fresh dates?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are all gone now, but the dried ones are better than those
+squeezed ones we have at home."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How you have grown!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why didn't you telegraph?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why did you go to Vesuvius, when Papa said he couldn't?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you, too, think it was Pnyx?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where have you been all winter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you roast eggs in the crater?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"When did you begin to grow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The little boys could not yet thoroughly explain themselves; they always
+talked together and in foreign languages, interrupting each other, and
+never agreeing as to dates.
+</p>
+<p>
+Solomon John accounted for his appearance in Smyrna by explaining that
+when he received his father's telegram in Athens, he decided to meet
+them at Smyrna. He was tired of waiting at the Pnyx. He had but just
+landed, and came near missing his family, and the little boys too, who
+had reached Athens just as he was leaving it. None of the family wished
+now to continue their journey to Athens, but they had the advice and
+assistance of their Russian friend in planning to leave the steamer at
+Constantinople; they would, by adopting this plan, be <i>en route</i>
+for the proposed excursion to the Volga.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin was overwhelmed with joy at having all her family together
+once more; but with it a wave of homesickness surged over her. They were
+all together; why not go home?
+</p>
+<p>
+It was found that there was a sailing-vessel bound absolutely for Maine,
+in which they might take passage. No more separation; no more mistakes;
+no more tedious study of guide-books; no more weighing of baggage. Every
+trunk and bag, every Peterkin, could be placed in the boat, and safely
+landed on the shores of home. It was a temptation, and at one time Mrs.
+Peterkin actually pleaded for it.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there came a throbbing in her head, a swimming in her eyes, a
+swaying of the very floor of the hotel. Could she bear it, day after
+day, week after week? Would any of them be alive? And Constantinople not
+seen, nor steam-navigation on the Volga!
+</p>
+<p>
+And so new plans arose, and wonderful discoveries were made, and the
+future of the Peterkin family was changed forever.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the first place a strange stout gentleman in spectacles had followed
+the Peterkin family to the hotel, had joined in the family councils, and
+had rendered valuable service in negotiating with the officers of the
+steamer for the cancellation of their through tickets to Athens. He
+dined at the same table, and was consulted by the (formerly) little
+boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+Who was he?
+</p>
+<p>
+They explained that he was their "preceptor." It appeared that after
+they parted from their father, the little boys had become mixed up with
+some pupils who were being taken by their preceptor to Vesuvius. For
+some time he had not noticed that his party (consisting of boys of their
+own age) had been enlarged; and after finding this out, he had concluded
+they were the sons of an English family with whom he had been
+corresponding. He was surprised that no further intelligence came with
+them, and no extra baggage. They had, however, their hand-bags; and
+after sending their telegram to the lady from Philadelphia, they assured
+him that all would be right. But they were obliged to leave Naples the
+very day of despatching the telegram, and left no address to which an
+answer could be sent. The preceptor took them, with his pupils, directly
+back to his institution in Gratz, Austria, from which he had taken them
+on this little excursion.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was not till the end of the winter that he discovered that his
+youthful charges&mdash;whom he had been faithfully instructing, and who had
+found the gymnasium and invigorating atmosphere so favorable to
+growth&mdash;were not the sons of his English correspondent, whom he had
+supposed, from their explanations, to be travelling in America.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was, however, intending to take his pupils to Athens in the spring,
+and by this time the little boys were able to explain themselves better
+in his native language. They assured him they should meet their family
+in the East, and the preceptor felt it safe to take them upon the track
+proposed.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was now that Mr. Peterkin prided himself upon the plan he had
+insisted upon before leaving home. "Was it not well," he exclaimed,
+"that I provided each of you with a bag of gold, for use in case of
+emergency, hidden in the lining of your hand-bags?"
+</p>
+<p>
+This had worked badly for Elizabeth Eliza, to be sure, who had left hers
+at Brindisi; but the little boys had been able to pay some of their
+expenses, which encouraged the preceptor to believe he might trust them
+for the rest. So much pleased were all the family with the preceptor
+that they decided that all three of the little boys should continue
+under his instructions, and return with him to Gratz. This decision made
+more easy the other plans of the family.
+</p>
+<p>
+Both Agamemnon and Solomon John had decided they would like to be
+foreign consuls. They did not much care where, and they would accept any
+appointment; and both, it appeared, had written on the subject to the
+Department at Washington. Agamemnon had put in a plea for a vacancy at
+Madagascar, and Solomon John hoped for an opening at Rustchuk, Turkey;
+if not there, at Aintab, Syria. Answers were expected, which were now
+telegraphed for, to meet them in Constantinople.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile Mr. Peterkin had been consulting the preceptor and the Russian
+Count about a land-journey home. More and more Mrs. Peterkin determined
+she could not and would not trust herself to another voyage, though she
+consented to travel by steamer to Constantinople. If they went as far as
+Nijninovgorod, which was now decided upon, why could they not persevere
+through "Russia in Asia"?
+</p>
+<p>
+Their Russian friend at first shook his head at this, but at last agreed
+that it might be possible to go on from Novgorod comfortably to Tobolsk,
+perhaps even from there to Yakoutsk, and then to Kamtschatka.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And cross at Behring's Strait!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. "It looks so
+narrow on the map."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And then we are in Alaska," said Mr. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And at home," exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin, "and no more voyages."
+</p>
+<p>
+But Elizabeth Eliza doubted about Kamtschatka and Behring's Strait, and
+thought it would be very cold.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But we can buy furs on our way," insisted Mrs. Peterkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if you do not find the journey agreeable," said their Russian
+friend, "you can turn back from Yakoutsk, even from Tobolsk, and come to
+visit us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Yes&mdash;<i>us</i>! For Elizabeth Eliza was to marry the Russian Count!
+</p>
+<p>
+He had been in a boat that was behind them on the Nile, had met them
+often, had climbed the ruins with them, joined their excursions, and had
+finally proposed at Edfu.
+</p>
+<p>
+Elizabeth Eliza had then just written to consult the lady from
+Philadelphia with regard to the offer of a German professor they had
+met, and she could give no reply to the Count.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, however, it was necessary to make a decision. She had meanwhile
+learned a few words of Russian. The Count spoke English moderately well,
+made himself understood better than the Professor, and could understand
+Elizabeth Eliza's French. Also the Count knew how to decide questions
+readily, while the Professor had to consider both sides before he could
+make up his mind.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Peterkin objected strongly at first. She could not even pronounce
+the Russian's name. "How should she be able to speak to him, or tell
+anybody whom Elizabeth Eliza had married?" But finally the family all
+gave their consent, won by the attention and devotion of Elizabeth
+Eliza's last admirer.
+</p>
+<p>
+The marriage took place in Constantinople, not at Santa Sophia, as
+Elizabeth Eliza would have wished, as that was under a Mohammedan
+dispensation. A number of American residents were present, and the
+preceptor sent for his other pupils in Athens. Elizabeth Eliza wished
+there was time to invite the lady from Philadelphia to be present, and
+Ann Maria Bromwick. Would the name be spelled right in the newspapers?
+All that could be done was to spell it by telegraph as accurately as
+possible, as far as they themselves knew how, and then leave the papers
+to do their best (or their worst) in their announcements of the wedding
+"at the American Consulate, Constantinople, Turkey. No cards."
+</p>
+<p>
+The last that was ever heard of the Peterkins, Agamemnon was on his way
+to Madagascar, Solomon John was at Rustchuk, and the little boys at
+Gratz; Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, in a comfortable sledge, were on their way
+from Tobolsk to Yakoutsk; and Elizabeth Eliza was passing her honeymoon
+in the neighborhood of Moscow.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<a name="h2H_4_0012" id="h2H_4_0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    OTHERS OF THEIR KIN.
+</h2>
+<hr />
+<a name="h2H_4_0013" id="h2H_4_0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    IX.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    LUCILLA'S DIARY.
+</h3>
+<p>
+MONDAY.&mdash;I spent some time this morning watching for the rag-man. I wish
+I had taken down a note which day it was I saw him before. I remember it
+was washing-day, for I had to take my hands out of the tub and wipe the
+suds off when Johnnie came to tell me that the rag-man was on the
+street. He was just turning the corner by the Wylies when I got to the
+front gate. But whether we washed on Monday I can't think. It rained
+that Monday, or the week before, and we had to wait till Tuesday; but
+which it was I couldn't say. I was in such a whirl fitting Artemas off,
+and much as ever I made him hear; and he wasn't the right man after all,
+for he wouldn't give more than a cent and a half a pound for the papers,
+and Mrs. Carruthers got two cents. She could not remember what was his
+day for coming, but agreed to send him if she should see him again.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Mrs. Carruthers sent the rag-man to-day; but I can't say much for the
+bargain, though he was a different man from the one that came Monday,
+and it seems it was Monday. He agreed to give me the same he gave Mrs.
+Carruthers,&mdash;two cents a pound. And I had a lot of newspapers,&mdash;all the
+papers Artemas has been taking through the winter; for he doesn't like
+me to take them for kindlings, says he would rather pay separate for
+kindlings, as I might burn the wrong one. And there were the papers that
+came around his underclothes and inside the packing boxes he has taken
+away. So I expected to make something; but he gave me no more than
+forty-five cents! He weighed them, and said himself there were thirty
+pounds. That ought to have come to sixty cents at least, according
+to my arithmetic. But he made out it was all right, and had them all
+packed up, and went off, though I followed him out to the gate and told
+him that it didn't amount to no more than I might have got from the
+other man at a cent and a half. He said it was all they were worth; that
+he wished he could get as much for them. Then I asked him why he took
+the trouble to come for them, under the circumstances. But by that time
+he was off and down the street.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I was just sitting at the window this morning, and there were Mr. and
+Mrs. Peebles walking down the street,&mdash;he on one side and she on the
+other. I do wonder why they didn't go on the same side! If they hadn't
+got so far past the gate, I'd have asked them. I never heard there was
+any quarrel between them, and it was just as muddy this side of the
+street as that. They have been spending their winters in the city
+lately, and perhaps it's some new fashion.
+</p>
+<p>
+I declare it's worth while to sit at the window now and then, and see
+what is going on. I'm usually so busy at the back of the house, I don't
+know. But now Lavinia has taken to going to school with the boys, and
+they are willing to take care of her, half my work seems taken out of my
+hands. Not that she was much in the way for a girl of four, but she
+might slip out of the gate at any time, as there are so many of those
+grinding organs around with their monkeys.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Mrs. Carruthers was in yesterday afternoon, and she said the Peebles
+were looking up the numbers on the doors to find the Wylies. They got
+puzzled because the numbers go up one side of the street and down the
+other, and they haven't but just been put on. And it seems that up in
+the city they have them go across. It does appear to me shiftless in our
+town officers, when they undertook to have the streets numbered as they
+do elsewhere, that they didn't number them the same way. But I can't see
+but our way is as good, and more sensible than having to cross a muddy
+street to look up the next number.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Artemas has been gone a whole week. I told him I would put down the most
+important things in a diary, and then he can look at it, if he has time,
+when he comes home. He thinks it is a more sensible way than writing
+letters every week.
+</p>
+<p>
+He expects to be up and down in Texas, and perhaps across the mountains;
+and in those lawless countries letters would not stand much
+chance,&mdash;maybe they wouldn't ever reach him, after I'd had the trouble
+of writing them. There's the expense of stamps too,&mdash;not so very much
+for one letter, but it counts up.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nothing worries me more than getting a letter, unless it's having a
+telegraph come,&mdash;and that does give one a start. But even that's sooner
+over and quicker read; while for a letter, it's long, and it takes a
+good while to get to the end. I feel it might be a kind of waste of time
+to write in my diary; but not more than writing letters, and it saves
+the envelopes and hunting them up. I'm not likely to find much time for
+either, for the boys are fairly through their winter suits; if I can
+only keep them along while the spring hangs off so.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Mrs. Norris was in yesterday, just as I was writing about the boys'
+suits, to know if I would let Martha off to work for her after the
+washing is over. I told her I didn't like to disoblige, but I couldn't
+see my way clear to get along without Martha. The boys ought to be
+having their spring suits this very minute, and Martha was calculating
+to make them this week; and they'd have to have their first wear of them
+Sundays for a while before they start on them for school. I never was so
+behindhand; but what with fitting off Artemas and the spring cleaning
+being delayed, I didn't seem to know how to manage. Martha is good at
+making over, and there are two very good coats of Artemas's that she
+would do the right thing by; while there was a good many who could scrub
+and clean as well as she,&mdash;there was that Nora that used to live at
+Patty's. But Mrs. Norris did not take to Nora. The Wylies tried her, but
+could make nothing out of her. I said I thought it would be hard to find
+the person Mrs. Wylie could get on with. Not that I ever knew anything
+about her till she came to live on our street last winter, but they do
+say she's just as hard on her own family; for there's a story that she
+won't let that pretty daughter of hers, Clara, marry Bob Prince's son,
+Larkin.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Norris said she didn't wonder, for Larkin Prince hadn't found
+anything to do since he came home. I thought there was enough to live
+upon in the Wylie family, even if Larkin didn't find something the first
+minute he'd got his education.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I can see that Mrs. Norris didn't take it well that I was not willing to
+give up Martha; but I don't really see why I should be the one to give
+up. But I must say I haven't got on as well with the work as I had
+hoped, Lavinia's going with the boys so much keeps her clothes half torn
+off her back, and I can't seem to see how to make her tidy. I was real
+ashamed when I went to lift her out of a mud-puddle yesterday outside
+the gate; and there was Clara Wylie looking as clean as a white lily,
+and she stopped to help her out. It seemed that Lavinia had left her
+boot in the last mud-puddle, and I would have liked to have gone through
+the ground. I hope it will be a lesson to Lavinia, for Miss Wylie
+oughtn't to have touched her with her hand. But she did, yellow gloves
+and all, and said it was dreadful walking now, the frost so late coming
+out of the ground, and she had quite envied Lavinia running across the
+fields after the boys. But Lavinia has taken to envying Miss Wylie, and
+wishes she could wear that kind of boots she has, with high heels that
+keep her out of the mud-puddles.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I am thinking of having my ruby cashmere colored over. I don't seem to
+feel like ripping it all up, pleatings and all; but Mrs. Peebles says
+it can be dipped just as well made up, and I needn't take out a seam.
+I might have it a kind of dark olive, like Mrs. Carruthers' dress.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I have had a start! It is a letter from Artemas; nothing particular
+about himself, only I should say he was well. But he wants to take
+out a young man farther west with him,&mdash;somebody with something of an
+education, who understands chemicals or engineering, and he wants me to
+pick out somebody. There's my brother Sam, of course. I thought of him
+the first thing. But Artemas never took to Sam, though he is my brother.
+Still, I dare say he would do right by him. And Sam don't seem to find
+the work here that suits, and I hate to have him hanging round. But he
+don't know more than I about chemicals, as much as even what they are,
+though I dare say he could find out, for Sam is smart and always could
+make out if he chose to lay his hands to anything. And I dare say
+Artemas thought of Sam, and that is why he sent to me to give him a
+chance. From what he says it must be a pretty good chance, exactly what
+Sam would like if he knew anything about the business. I dare say he'd
+do quite as well as half the fellows who might go. He can be steady if
+he's a mind to.
+</p>
+<p>
+But I can't but think of Larkin Prince; how he's taken all the pains to
+get an education, and his father for him laying up money for the very
+purpose, and that pretty Clara Wylie waiting to be married till he
+should get something fit to do, and maybe her father wanting to marry
+her off to some rich man while she's waiting, when her heart is set on
+Larkin. And he'd be just the man for Artemas, seeing as he's been
+studying just such things.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+It wasn't no use taking up the time writing in my diary, as Artemas must
+have a telegraph before night, and the boys home from school to know if
+they might go to the swamp after checkerberries, and Lavinia with them,
+and I let her go, clean apron and all, and I put on my bonnet to go over
+to Mrs. Prince's. It made my heart bump to think how much Sam would set
+on having the situation, and Artemas kind of expecting him; but I said
+to myself, if Larkin should be out of town, or anything, that would
+settle the matter for Sam.
+</p>
+<p>
+As it happened, who should I meet but Larkin just at the gate! and I
+asked him if he would turn back and step in with me for a minute. He
+looked kind of provoked, and I shouldn't wonder if he hadn't expected to
+meet Clara Wylie coming out of her gate just below, as it's natural she
+should at this time. But he came in, and I gave him Artemas's letter to
+read, for there wasn't anything in it except particulars of the work. He
+quite started as he read it, and then he looked at me inquiring, and I
+asked him if he had the kind of knowledge Artemas wanted. I supposed he
+might have it, as he'd been to the new schools. It told in the letter
+about the expenses, and what the pay would be, and where he would find
+the free pass, and that he'd have to telegraph right off, and perhaps he
+noticed he'd have to start to-night. Well, I guess he needn't care even
+to thank me; for that look in his face was enough, and I shan't forget
+it. He wanted to know was it Artemas thought of him. But before I could
+answer, he saw somebody out in the street, and went to rushing out, only
+he gave me another of those looks as he went, and said he'd see me
+before he sent the telegraph, and would take any message from me to
+Artemas.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I hadn't more than time to write this yesterday, when Mrs. Norris came
+in to inquire about some garden seeds, but I guess she expected to find
+out what Larkin Prince had been in for, for she was calling over at Mrs.
+Carruthers'. I offered her some squash seeds, and took her out the back
+way, through the garden, to show her how the squashes were likely to
+spread. Last summer they were all over the garden. It seems the only
+thing the boys let to grow.
+</p>
+<p>
+She hadn't more than gone when Larkin came in. It was all settled, and
+other things seemed to be settled too; for who should come in with him
+but Clara Wylie, crying and smiling all at once. She had to come and
+help Larkin to thank me because he had got the place. After he was gone
+she came back for a little cry. She didn't seem to wonder that Larkin
+was the one chosen, and supposed Artemas must have known all about him,
+she said, as well as the company he is working for. They probably had
+seen his name in the papers, she thought, when he graduated so honorably
+from the school.
+</p>
+<p>
+I didn't tell her that there wasn't any company; that Artemas never had
+time to read that kind of thing in the newspapers, and would not have
+noticed it if he had; and that he'd left it all to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+I can't but say after it was all settled I had a kind of a turn myself,
+to think that Sam might have gone just as well, and I had been standing
+in his way.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I shall have to let down Lavinia's gowns full two inches this summer.
+Lucky I put tucks in them all last year. Mrs. Carruthers wanted me to
+finish them off with a frill; lucky I didn't, it would have been up to
+her ears this summer. As for the boys, I can take them in turn,&mdash;last
+year's clothes for the next boy all the way down, and Cyrus can have his
+father's. But it seems harder to fit out Lavinia. The ruby cashmere is
+as good for me as new; it is dipped.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I'm real sorry about the Jones's losing their cow; it comes hard for
+them. It's better for our potato patch, particularly if they do not have
+another. Cyrus ought to fence it in.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sam came in last night. He had heard that Larkin Prince was summoned off
+by a company out West, for work that would pay, and would set him up for
+years, and he had a free pass, and old Wylie had given his consent to
+his marrying Clara. Some people, he said, had luck come to them without
+trying for it, just standing round. There was he himself had been
+looking for just such work last year, and nobody had thought of him.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I hope I wasn't hard on Sam. I couldn't help telling him if he'd gone up
+to the schools, as Larkin Prince did, and he might have done, he could
+have made himself fit for an engineer or a chemical agent. Well, it took
+him kind of surprised, and I agreed to go round this evening, when
+father is at home, and talk to father and mother about Sam's going to
+some of them schools. At least he might try; and, anyhow, it would get
+him out of the kind of company he's taken a fancy to.
+</p>
+<p>
+I must say I didn't think of how he'd feel about Clara Wylie; but, of
+course, her father would never have given Sam any encouragement more
+than Larkin. And as for Clara Wylie&mdash;well, I saw her look at Larkin
+that night.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I don't know but I made a mistake in sending so many of his woollen
+socks to Artemas by Larkin Prince. Perhaps I had better have sent more
+of the cotton ones. Larkin said he would tell him we were all well, and
+how he found us. Lavinia had gone up to bed, and was hollering to me
+to come up to her, and Cyrus slung Silas's cap into the window, and it
+most hit Larkin; Silas came in after it through the window, and the rest
+of the boys were pounding on the barn door, where they were having a
+militia meeting, or some kind of a parade, with half the boys in town.
+So Artemas will know things goes on about as usual.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+An excellent sermon from Mr. Jenkins today. I can't seem to think what
+it was about, to put it down; but we are all of us more and more pleased
+with him as a minister. You can't expect all things of any man; and if
+a minister preaches a good sermon twice a Sunday and perhaps at evening
+meeting, and goes around among the people as much as Mr. Jenkins, and
+holds meetings through the week, and Bible class every Friday evening,
+and sits by the bedside of the sick and the dying, and gives a hand in
+his own farming or a neighbor's, and stands on the committee for the
+schools, I don't know as you can expect much more of him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Carruthers says there's a talk of the Peebles moving up to the city
+for good and all. I should think they might as well go as careening back
+and forth, spring and fall; though she says they will still go down to
+the seashore or up to the mountains, summers. When I had a home, I will
+say, I liked to stay in it.
+</p>
+<p>
+There, now! I do believe that I have not mentioned in my diary that our
+house is burned down, and much as ever we all got out alive, coming in
+the night so. I suppose I ought to have put it in as being one of the
+principal events; but somehow I have been so unsettled since the fire, I
+haven't seemed to think to write it down. And, of course, Artemas would
+see from the depot, the minute he arrived, that the house wasn't there,
+and he wouldn't need to wait and read about it in my diary; and I have
+been pretty busy getting set to rights again. Everything being burnt,
+there 's all the summer clothes to be made over again, except a few
+things I brought off in a bundle along with the diary. Still, it might
+have been better than writing about my neighbors, as I did about the
+Peebles.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Mr. Jenkins came in as I was writing. He says that diaries are good
+things, and if you didn't put in only your thoughts in a sentimental
+kind of way, they'd be useful for posterity. I told him I didn't write
+for posterity, but for Artemas, instead of a letter. He was surprised
+I hadn't written him about the fire, as the news might reach him
+exaggerated. I could not help from laughing, for I don't see how it
+could be made out much worse,&mdash;the house burnt down, and the barn with
+the horse in it, and Cyrus's crop of squashes. Much as ever we got out
+alive, and I had to come to rooms&mdash;two pair, back. I did bring the diary
+out in my apron.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Jenkins spoke of the insurance, and maybe Artemas might have
+something to say about that; but we talked it all over the night before
+he went away, and he spoke of the insurance being out, and he didn't
+think it worth while to renew; there never had been a fire, and it
+wasn't likely there would be.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Mrs. Carruthers came in to inquire when was a good time to try out soap.
+I told her I managed generally to do it when Artemas wasn't at home, as
+he was not partial to the smell in the house. But Mr. Carruthers never
+does go away, and she doesn't believe he'd notice it. I don't know but
+I'd rather have my husband coming and going like Artemas, instead of
+sticking around not noticing, especially if he was Mr. Carruthers.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Clara Wylie has been with letters in her hands, and it seems she wrote
+to Larkin Prince all about our fire; how our boys dropped matches in the
+hay, and the fire spread to the house from the barn, and how we were
+waked up, and had to hurry out just as we were. I don't believe she told
+how the Wylies took us in that night, and found us these rooms at their
+aunt Marshall's till Artemas comes home. But it seems that Artemas has
+told Larkin it ain't no kind of consequence, the house burning down,
+because he never liked it facing the depot, and he'll be glad to build
+again, and has money enough for it, and can satisfy the neighbors if
+there's a complaint that our boys burned down all that side of the
+street, with being careless with their matches. And there was a note
+inclosed to me from Artemas. He says he'd had a kind of depressed time,
+when things were going wrong, but matters began to look up when Larkin
+Prince came, who had just the information needed. So it's just as well
+I didn't write about the fire. I hope Artemas don't talk too large about
+his earning so much; anyhow, I shall try to get along spending next to
+nothing, and earning what I can making buttonholes.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+I've made over my ruby cashmere for Lavinia, and I'm sorry now that
+I had it dyed over so dark, the olive is kind of dull for her; but I
+can't seem to lay my hand on anything else for her, and she must have
+something. Lucky it was lying on the chair, close by the door, so I
+brought it off from the fire.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Artemas has come home.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0014" id="h2H_4_0014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    X.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK.
+</h3>
+<h2>
+I.
+</h2>
+<p>
+"I don't see how we can ever get them back again," said Mr. Dyer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why should not we ask the 'grateful people'?" asked Jedidiah.
+</p>
+<p>
+To explain what Jedidiah and his father meant, I shall have to tell how
+it was Jedidiah came to have a Noah's Ark, and all about it, for it was
+a little odd.
+</p>
+<p>
+Jedidiah was the son of poor parents. His father lived in a small, neat
+house, and owned a little farm. It was not much of a place; but he
+worked hard, and raised vegetables upon it, mostly potatoes. But Mrs.
+Dyer liked string-beans and peas; so they had a few of these, and
+pumpkins, when the time came; but we have nothing to do with them at
+present. If I began to tell you what Mrs. Dyer liked, it would take a
+great while, because there are marrow-squashes and cranberry-beans,
+though she did not care so much for tomatoes; but vegetables do help
+out, and don't cost as much as butcher's meat, if you don't keep sheep;
+but hens Mrs. Dyer did keep. It was the potatoes that were most
+successful, for it was one summer when everybody's potatoes had failed.
+They had all kinds of diseases, especially at Spinville, near which Mr.
+Dyer lived. Some were rotten in the middle, some had specks outside;
+some were very large and bad, some were small and worse; and in many
+fields there were none at all. But Mr. Dyer's patch flourished
+marvellously. So, after he had taken in all he wanted for himself, he
+told his wife he was going to ask the people of Spinville to come and
+get what they wanted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, Mr. Dyer!" said his wife. She did not say much else; but what she
+meant was, that if he had any potatoes to spare, he had better sell them
+than give them away. Mr. Dyer was a poor man; why should not he make a
+little money?
+</p>
+<p>
+But Mr. Dyer replied that he had no cart and horse to take the potatoes
+to Spinville with, and no time either. He had agreed to mow the deacon's
+off-lot, and he was not going to disappoint the deacon, even if he
+should get a couple of dollars by it; and he wasn't going to let his
+potatoes rot, when all Spinville was in want of potatoes. So Mr. Dyer
+set to work, and printed in large letters on a sheet of paper these
+words: "All persons in want of potatoes, apply to J. Dyer, Cranberry
+Lane, Wednesday, the fifteenth, after seven o'clock, A.M. Gratis."
+</p>
+<p>
+The last word was added after Mr. Dyer had pasted the notice against the
+town hall of Spinville; for so many people came up to bother him with
+questions as to how much he was going to ask for his potatoes, that he
+was obliged to add this by way of explanation, or he would never have
+got to the deacon's off-lot Tuesday morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+Wednesday morning, Mrs. Dyer sat by the front window, with her darning.
+She had persuaded Mr. Dyer to wait till Wednesday; for as for having all
+the people tramping through the yard when the clean clothes were out,
+she couldn't think of it; and she might as well get through the ironing,
+then she could have an eye on them. And how provoked they'd all be to
+come down all that way to Cranberry Hollow, to find only a bin of
+potatoes to divide among them all.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little shed was full of potatoes, Mr. Dyer answered. And he had no
+idea many people would come, just the poorer ones; and as long as he had
+any potatoes to spare, he was willing they should take them.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, sure enough, as Mrs. Dyer said, what a procession came! Poor Mrs.
+Jones's little girl, with a bag; Tom Scraggs, with two baskets; the
+minister's son, with a wheelbarrow; and even rich Mr. Jones, the
+selectman, with a horse and cart. Boys and girls, and old women, and
+middle-sized men, and every kind of a vehicle, from a tin tipcart to
+Mrs. Stubbs's carry-all.
+</p>
+<p>
+Well, let them come, thought Mrs. Dyer. It would just show Mr. Dyer she
+was right, and he didn't often find that out. She should be disturbed by
+them soon enough when they found out that there was not more than half a
+potato apiece, and like enough, not that. Pretty business of Mr. Dyer,
+to take to giving away, when he had not more than enough to put into his
+own mouth, to say nothing of Jedidiah's! So she went on darning and
+thinking. What was her surprise, all of a sudden, to hear only shouts
+of joy as the people returned round the corner of the house! Poor Mrs.
+Jones's little girl gave a scream of delight as she held up her bag full
+of potatoes; the minister's son had hard work to push along his full
+wheelbarrow; rich Mr. Jones was laughing from the top of his piled-up
+cart; Tom Scraggs was trying to get help in carrying his baskets. Such
+a laughing, such fun, was never heard in Spinville, which is a sober
+place. And they all nodded to Mrs. Dyer, and gave shouts for Mr. Dyer,
+and offered Jedidiah rides in all their carts, those that had them, and
+asked Mrs. Dyer what they could do for her in Spinville. And Jedidiah
+tried to tell his mother, through the open window, how the more they
+took the potatoes out of the bin, the more there were left in it; and
+how everybody had enough, and went away satisfied, and had filled their
+pockets; and even one of the boys was planning a quill popgun for sliced
+potato, such as the worst boys had not dreamed of all summer. He was a
+bad boy from the Meadow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Mr. Dyer!" said Mrs. Dyer, all day, and again when he came home
+at night.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course the Spinville people thought a great deal from this time of
+Mr. Dyer; and there was a town council held to consider what they should
+do to express their feelings to him. He had declined six times being
+made selectman, and he did not want to ring the bell as sexton. There
+did not seem to be anything in the way of an office they could offer him
+that he would accept.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last Mr. Jones suggested that the best way to please the father was
+to give something to the son. "Something for Jedidiah!" exclaimed Mr.
+Jones. "The next time I go to New York, I'll go to a toy-shop; I'll buy
+something for Jedidiah."
+</p>
+<p>
+So he did. He came home with the Noah's Ark. It was a moderate-sized
+ark, painted blue, as usual, with red streaks, and a slanting roof, held
+down with a crooked wire. It was brought to Jedidiah, one evening, just
+as he was going to bed; so the crooked wire was not lifted, for Mrs.
+Dyer thought he had better go to bed at his time and get up early and
+look at his ark. But he could not sleep well, thinking of his ark. It
+stood by his bedside, and all night long he heard a great racket inside
+of it. There was a roaring and a grunting and a squeaking,&mdash;all kinds of
+strange noises. In the moonlight he thought he saw the roof move; if the
+wire had not been so crooked it surely would have opened. But it didn't,
+not till he took it downstairs, and Mrs. Dyer had got out her
+ironing-board, that the animals might be spread out upon it; then
+Jedidiah lifted the roof.
+</p>
+<p>
+What a commotion there was then! The elephant on the top, and his trunk
+stretched out; in a minute or two he would have unfastened the wire; the
+giraffe's long neck was stretched out; one dove flew away directly, and
+some crows sat on the eaves. Mr. and Mrs. Dyer and Jedidiah started
+back, while the elephant with his trunk helped out some of the smaller
+animals, who stepped into rows on the ironing-board as fast as they were
+taken out.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cows were mooing, the cats mewing, the dogs barking, the pigs
+grunting. Presently Noah's head appeared, and he looked round for his
+wife; and then came Shem and Ham and Japheth with their wives. They
+helped out some of the birds,&mdash;white, with brown spots,&mdash;geese, and
+ducks. It took the elephant and Noah and all his sons to get the horses
+out, plunging and curvetting as they were. Some sly foxes got out of
+themselves, leaping from the roof to the back of a kneeling camel.
+</p>
+<p>
+Jedidiah's eyes sparkled with joy. Mrs. Dyer sat with folded hands, and
+said, "Why, Mr. Dyer!" And Mr. Dyer occasionally helped a stray donkey,
+whose legs were caught, or a turkey fluttering on the edge. At last a
+great roaring and growling was heard at the bottom of the ark. The
+elephant nodded his trunk to the giraffe; the camel was evidently
+displeased; Noah and his sons stood together looking up at the roof.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the wild animals," said Jedidiah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If they should get out," thought Mrs. Dyer; "all the wild tigers and
+the lions loose in the house!" And she looked round to see if the closet
+door were open for a place of retreat.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Dyer stepped up and shut the roof of the ark. It was in time; for a
+large bear was standing on his hind legs on the back of a lion, and was
+looking out. Noah and his family looked much pleased; the elephants
+waved their trunks with joy; the camels stopped growling.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't wonder they are glad to get out," said Jedidiah. "I do believe
+they have been treading down those wild animals all night."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Dyer wondered what they should do with the rest. Come Tuesday she
+would want her ironing-board,&mdash;perhaps baking-day, to set the pies on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They ought to have some houses to live in, and barns," said Jedidiah.
+Then it was Mr. Dyer had said they could never get them back into the
+ark; and Jedidiah had said, "We might ask the 'grateful people,'"&mdash;for
+this was the name the inhabitants of Spinville went by in the Dyer
+family ever since the time of the potatoes.
+</p>
+<p>
+The story of their coming for the potatoes had been told over and over
+again; then how the "people" felt so grateful to Mr. Dyer. Mr. Dyer said
+he was tired of hearing about it. Mrs. Dyer thought if they meant to do
+anything to let Mr. Dyer see they were grateful, they had better not
+talk so much about it. But Jedidiah called them the "grateful people;"
+and it was he that caught the first glimpse of the procession when it
+came up with the ark, Mr. Jones at the head. He had some faith in them;
+so it was he that thought there ought to be a village built for Noah and
+his family; and when Mr. Dyer had some doubts about building it he
+suggested, "Let's ask the 'grateful people.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+What they did will be told in another chapter.
+</p>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    II.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    ABOUT THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE AND THE WILD BEASTS.
+</h3>
+<p>
+That very afternoon there was a great rush to see Jedidiah's Noah's Ark,
+and there was immense enthusiasm about it. Some brave ones opened the
+roof and looked in upon the growling wild animals. The girls liked the
+lambs the best; the boys were delighted with the foxes that jumped on
+the edge of the boat that formed the ark.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a day or two there was a flourishing little village built on a smooth
+place on the other side of Mr. Dyer's house. The minister's daughter had
+brought a little toy village she had with red roofs, and one of the men
+scooped out the houses, which were made of one block of wood, but could
+now accommodate Noah and his family, and each one picked out a house to
+match the color of his garments.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tom Stubbs built a barn of wooden bricks for the larger animals, and
+Lucy Miles brought a pewter bird-cage, with a door that would open and
+shut, for the birds. The elephant knocked out a brick with his trunk as
+soon as he went into the barn, but that made a good window for him to
+look out of. Jedidiah himself made the loveliest coop for the hen; and
+the boys had a nice time over a pond they dug in the mud, for the ducks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Indeed, it occupied Spinville for some time; and Noah, Shem, and Ham
+did not sit down much, but looked very busy. There was a fence built
+round the whole village, high enough to keep in the elephants and the
+giraffes, though they could look over. There was a bit of pasture-land
+shut in for the cows, who fell to nibbling as soon as they were put in
+it. A clover-leaf lasted one of the sheep two days. The tinman sent
+some little tin dippers no bigger than a thimble, and the children were
+delighted to see the animals drink. The boys handed one of the dippers
+into the ark for the tigers. The giraffes found a bush just high enough
+for them to eat from. The doves sat on the eaves of the ark, and
+Agamemnon brought some pickled olives, as he had no olive-branch for
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+The children were never tired of seeing the camels kneel and rise. They
+made them carry little burdens,&mdash;stones that were to be cleared from the
+field, chips from the henhouse. Sometimes the camels growled; then the
+children took off a chip or two from their burdens,&mdash;the last ounce,
+they thought.
+</p>
+<p>
+The "grateful people" sent a large umbrella, used by the umbrella-maker
+for a sign, that could be opened over the whole village in case of a
+rain; and the toy-shop man sent a tin teapot, though Mrs. Dyer did not
+venture to give Noah and his family any real tea; but it was a very
+pretty teapot, with a red flower upon it. Mrs. Noah liked it, though it
+was almost large enough for the whole family to get into.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this was not the work of a day, by any means. First, all Spinville
+had to come and look at the things, and then it had to discuss the whole
+affair. Mrs. Dyer's knitting got on bravely, for so many of her friends
+came in to sit in her best parlor, and talk it all over. Mrs. Dyer
+agreed with them; she thought it was all very strange. She should be
+thankful if only the tigers would never get out. She did not like having
+tigers running in and out of the house, even if they were no bigger than
+your thimble. She thought it quite likely some of the boys would let
+them out some day; but it was no use looking forward. So, day by day,
+the people came to look at the wonderful village. There was always
+something new to see. At last, one of the deacons declared Jedidiah
+ought to charge so much a sight. It was as good a show as the menagerie,
+any day; and everybody was willing to give ten cents for that, children
+half-price.
+</p>
+<p>
+This made great talk. Should Jedidiah charge for the show, or not? Mr.
+Dyer would have nothing to say about it. Mrs. Dyer thought they might as
+well; then there would be fewer children in her front yard picking at
+the currants. At last it was settled that Spinville should pay two cents
+a sight, children half-price, and strangers could see the village for
+nothing; but all those who had contributed anything towards the ark
+should have a right to visit it with their families, without paying.
+There was a great rush after this to see who was going to pay. It turned
+out only the schoolmaster's and doctor's families had to buy tickets;
+and when it came to that, Mr. Dyer said he would not let them pay
+anything. So Jedidiah did not gain much by it; but he and a few of his
+friends made some tickets, all the same, printing on them "Noah's Ark.
+Admittance, two cents; children, half-price;" and a good many children
+bought tickets for the fun of it.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last there came a crash. One afternoon, Tim Stubbs, in setting up a
+new pump, gave a knock to the ark, and sent the whole thing over. The
+roof snapped open, and out came all the wild beasts. The hyenas laughed,
+the lions roared, the bears growled, and the tigers leaped about to see
+whom they could devour; Noah jumped up on top of the pump; the elephant
+knocked out a side of the barn, to see what was the matter; all the
+wives ran for the houses, and there was a general confusion. A leopard
+seized a young chicken. Mrs. Dyer came out with a rolling-pin in her
+hand. Tim and Tom Stubbs declared they would catch the animals, if
+Jedidiah would only find something safe to put them in.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we only had a cave!" exclaimed Lucy Miles, who had hidden behind the
+kitchen door.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tim and Tom Stubbs caught one of the tigers, just as Jedidiah appeared
+with his mother's bandbox. He had thrown his mother's caps and her
+Sunday bonnet on the spare-room floor. They shut the tiger up in the
+bandbox, then found one of the bears climbing up the pump after Noah.
+Jedidiah brought a strong string, and tied him to a post. All the rest
+of the boys ran away at first, but ventured to come back and join in the
+search for the rest of the beasts.
+</p>
+<p>
+The hunt grew quite exciting. One of the boys, who had read African
+travels, prepared a leash of twine, and made a lasso, and with this he
+succeeded in catching the two hyenas. Then no one knew if all the beasts
+were caught or no. The boy who had read the travels could tell a long
+list of wild animals that ought to be in the ark. There was the
+rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the jaguar; there was the leopard, the
+panther, the ocelot. Mrs. Dyer put her hands up to her ears in dismay.
+She could not bear to hear any more of their names; and to think she
+might meet them any day, coming in at the wood-house door, or running
+off with one of the chickens!
+</p>
+<p>
+But the Stubbses thought very likely all these animals never were in
+this ark at all, though they might have been in the original Noah's Ark.
+This was only a play ark, after all, and you could not expect to find
+every animal in it. The minister's wife said she did not know what you
+should expect. The ark was quite a different one from any she had seen.
+She had bought them for her children, year in and year out, and she had
+never seen anything of the sort. You might expect a hippopotamus, or any
+kind of beast. Those she had bought were always of wood, and the legs
+broke off easily. You could mend them with Spalding's Glue; but even
+Spalding was not as good as it used to be, and you could not depend
+upon it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the hunt went on. The Spinville people began to be sorry they
+had ever bought a Noah's Ark. They had expected nothing of the sort. At
+last the two leopards were found,&mdash;beautiful creatures, who lashed their
+tails wildly; and before long, two hippopotami were discovered in the
+duck-pond, wallowing in their native element. They were very fierce and
+wild, and were caught with great difficulty. These were put in the
+bandbox with the others. It was a strong, old-fashioned box; but it was
+feared it would not last long for the wild beasts. Jedidiah tied it up
+with some twine, and it was put for the present in the spare-room
+closet.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Dyer did not sleep well that night, though her doors had been shut
+all day. She dreamed she heard lions all the night long, and was sure a
+rhinoceros could get in at the window. Why had Mr. Dyer ever been so
+generous with his potatoes? Why had he invited all the people to come?
+Of what use had the Noah's Ark been? Jedidiah had got along without toys
+before; now his head was turned. Better for him to amuse himself digging
+potatoes, or seeing to the squashes, than meddling with the beasts.
+</p>
+<p>
+And there were the Spinville boys round before breakfast. They were
+there, indeed, and began again their search for the beasts. The girls
+sat at the chamber windows, watching the chase. Under a cabbage-leaf,
+fast asleep, the stray tiger was found. The boy learned in Natural
+History went over the terrible list of all the fierce animals. "Yes,
+there were ocelots and cougars and jaguars, peculiarly shy and
+stealthy in approaching their prey," so the book said. "There was the
+chibiguasu&mdash;&mdash;" But Jedidiah said he didn't believe <i>his</i> Noah
+cared for such out-of-the-way beasts; they must have come in since his
+ark. They had enough to do to catch the regular wild animals, and these
+at last they found in some number. They were all seized, and with
+difficulty put into a wooden lozenge-box. There was great delight; there
+must be all; the ark surely could have held no more. Lions, tigers,
+leopards, panthers, lynxes, wildcats,&mdash;all the animals necessary for
+a respectable ark, all in twos.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, oh horror! a jaguar was discovered, also, at the last moment just
+before school. One jaguar, and there must be another somewhere. The one
+found answered the description completely: "the body yellow, marked with
+open black figures, considerable variety in the marking." A stray jaguar
+in Spinville! so fierce a beast! No one could be sure of his footsteps.
+Noah, his sons and their wives, had not been unmoved. Their satisfaction
+had been great. They had carried water to the bears, and had looked much
+pleased; and now they shook their heads at seeing only one jaguar.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think they must be all caught but that one jaguar," said Jedidiah.
+"They look satisfied, and are going about their daily work; and it is
+time we found some place for the wild beasts. They will come through
+mother's bandbox before long."
+</p>
+<p>
+The boys went to school. There was great consultation all that day,
+which ended in Tom Stubbs bringing a squirrel-cage. It was just the
+thing, for the wires were near enough to keep the animals in, and
+everybody could have a look at them. But how were they to be got into
+the squirrel-cage? There came a new question. Tim Stubbs remembered he
+had often caught a butterfly under his hat, and a very handsome
+butterfly, too, and he was sure he had him; but just as he lifted the
+brim of the hat to show the other fellows that he was really there, the
+butterfly would be off.
+</p>
+<p>
+Happily there was no afternoon school, and a grand council of the
+boys was held, assisted by some of the selectmen. The beasts in the
+lozenge-box were easily disposed of, for it had a sliding cover, which
+was dexterously raised high enough to let the beasts all into the
+squirrel-cage. Then handy Tim Stubbs punched a hole in the bandbox
+opposite to the entrance of the squirrel-cage, and one by one the
+leopards and the rest were allowed to make their way into the wiry
+prison. The tiger made a dash, but in vain; he was imprisoned like the
+rest.
+</p>
+<p>
+This is our last news from Spinville.
+</p>
+<p>
+It is more than a month since the Spinville stage set out on its weekly
+trip for that place. It was an old stage; the horses were old, the
+harness was old, the driver was old. It is not then to be wondered
+at that in crossing the bridge on the old road, which is so little
+travelled that it is never kept in repair, the old wheel was caught in
+a chink between the boards, the old coach tumbled over, the driver was
+thrown from his seat and broke his leg, the horses fell on their knees,
+and the whole concern was made a complete wreck.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, the stage-driver was the owner of the old coach and team. He had
+always said the thing did not pay; he would give it all up. Indeed, he
+only had driven to Spinville once a week to see the folks himself.
+Nobody ever went there, and nobody ever came away, except once a year
+Mr. Jones, and he had a team of his own. So there is no communication
+with Spinville. That a jaguar is loose is the latest news.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0016" id="h2H_4_0016"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    XI.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    CARRIE'S THREE WISHES.
+</h3>
+<p>
+Carrie Fraser was a great trouble to her mother, because she was always
+wishing for something she had not got.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The other girls always have things that I don't," she complained to her
+mother. Her mother tried to explain to Carrie that she had a great many
+things the other girls didn't have.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But they are not always wishing for my things, just as I wish for
+theirs."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is because they are not such 'teasers' as you are," her mother
+would reply. "You do not hear them from morning till night teasing for
+things they have not got."
+</p>
+<p>
+Another thing in Carrie troubled her mother very much. She used a
+great many extravagant phrases. She was not satisfied with saying even
+"perfectly lovely," "splendid," "excruciatingly jolly." Her mother might
+have permitted these terms, and was used to hearing the other girls use
+them; but Carrie got hold of the strangest expressions and phrases, I am
+afraid to put them into this story; for every boy and girl is perhaps
+already too familiar with such, and I might only spread the use of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+I will mention that "bang-up" and "bumptious," and that class of
+expressions were her favorites, and the best-educated boy or girl will
+be able to imagine the rest. This story will show how a careless use of
+words brought Carrie to grief, and taught her a severe lesson.
+</p>
+<p>
+One day, as usual, she had been complaining, and wishing she could have
+everything she wanted. Her mother said: "You remember the old story of
+the old couple who had their three wishes granted, and how they never
+got any good from it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that was because they acted like such geese," exclaimed Carrie. "I
+could never have been so elephantinely idiotic! First, they wasted one
+wish, for a black pudding."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a sausage," said her mother.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, they asked for a common, every-day sausage to come down the
+chimney; then they got into a fight, and wished it would settle on one
+of their noses; and then they had to waste their last wish, by wishing
+it off again! It is too bad to have such luck come to such out-and-out
+idiots."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Fraser was just setting out for the village street, to order the
+dinner. The Governor was expected to pass through the place, and was to
+be met at the Town Hall. Jimmy, the only son in the family, had gone off
+to see the show.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, if he were a real, genuine governor," said Carrie, "like a prince
+in a fairytale, you would go and beseech him to grant your wishes. You
+would fall on your knees, or something, and he would beg you to rise,
+and your lovely daughter should have all that she wished."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid you are very foolish," sighed Mrs. Fraser; "but I will see
+the Governor. Perhaps he can advise what is best."
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed to Carrie as if her mother were gone a great while. "She might
+have got six dinners!" she exclaimed to herself. "How tiresome! I wish I
+had gone down myself, anyway. All the girls and boys have gone, and I
+might have seen the Governor."
+</p>
+<p>
+But she passed the time in rocking backward and forward in a
+rocking-chair; for to her other faults Carrie added that of laziness,
+and when the other girls had gone down town, and had urged her to go
+with them, she had been quite too lazy to go for her hat or to hunt up
+her boot button-hook.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems as if Jimmy might have come back to tell about things," she
+went on. "Oh dear me! if I had only a chariot and four to go down with,
+and somebody to dress me and find my boots and my hat and my gloves,
+then it would have been worth while to go. I mean to make out a list of
+wishes, in case somebody should grant me the power to have them."
+</p>
+<p>
+She took out a little blank-book from her pocket, and began to write
+down:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"1. A chariot and four, man to drive, striped afghan, etc.
+</p>
+<p>
+"2. Maid to find and put on hat, boots, etc.
+</p>
+<p>
+"3. Plenty of hats, boots, and gloves for the maid to put on, and so
+that they could be found when wanted."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That would be bully!" said Carrie, interrupting herself. "If I had
+gloves in every drawer and on every shelf, I should not have to be
+looking for them. I might have a hat on every peg in the house except
+what Jimmy uses. I might have a sack over the back of every chair, and
+gloves in the pockets of each. The boots could be in each corner of the
+room and on all the top shelves. But boot-hooks! there's the stunner!
+Where could one find boot-buttoners enough? They do get out of the way
+so! I should have six in every drawer, one in each pocket, half a dozen
+in Mamma's basket, a row on the mantelpiece&mdash;on all the mantelpieces.
+Then perhaps I could do without a maid; at least, save her up till I
+grow older. Let's see. That makes three wishes. They generally have
+three. If I strike out the maid, I can think of something else. Suppose
+I say something to eat, then. Chocolate creams! I never had enough yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment Mrs. Fraser returned, looking quite heated and
+breathless. She had to fling herself into a chair by the window to
+recover strength enough to speak, and then her words came out in gasps.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie did leave her rocking-chair and tried fanning her mother, for she
+saw she had something to say.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is it? What have you seen? Have you got something slam-bang for
+me? Is the Governor coming here? Couldn't you raise any dinner?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie's questions came out so fast that her mother never could have
+answered them, even with the breath of a Corliss engine; much less,
+panting as she was now.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I saw him; I managed to see him," she gasped out. "The guns were
+firing, the cannon were booming, the bells were ringing&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh! I dare say! I dare say!" cried Carrie, eager to hear more. "I could
+hear them up here. That was not worth going to town for. What did the
+Governor say?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear! my dear!" panted Mrs. Fraser, "he said you could have your
+three wishes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What! The chariot and four (that means horses), the maid, and the
+boot-hooks,&mdash;no, the maid was scratched out,&mdash;not the chocolates?" asked
+Carrie, in wonder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no! I don't know what you mean!" said Mrs. Fraser; "but you can
+have three wishes; and I have hurried home, for they are to be told as
+the clock strikes twelve,&mdash;one to-day, one to-morrow, one the next
+day,&mdash;the moment the clock strikes, and I am only just in time. You are
+to wish, and you will have just what you wish."
+</p>
+<p>
+Both Carrie and her mother looked at the clock. The hand was just
+approaching twelve. Carrie could hear a little "click" that always came
+from inside the clock before it struck.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have written out my wishes," she hurried to say; "but I don't want
+the chariot yet, because everybody is coming back from town. And I don't
+want any more hats and boots just now. But, oh! I do want some chocolate
+creams, and I wish this room was 'chock full of them.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke the clock struck; and when it stopped she could speak no
+more, for the room was as full of chocolate creams as it could hold.
+They came rattling down upon her head, filling in all the crannies of
+the room. They crowded into her half-open mouth; they filled her
+clutching hands. Luckily, Mrs. Fraser was sitting near the open window,
+and the chocolate creams pushed her forward upon the sill. There were
+two windows looking upon the piazza. One was made of glass doors that
+were shut; the other, fortunately, was quite low; and Mrs. Fraser seated
+herself on the edge, and succeeded in passing her feet over to the other
+side, a torrent of chocolate creams following her as she came. She then
+turned to see if she could help Carrie. Carrie was trying to eat her way
+toward the window, and stretched out her arms to her mother, who seized
+her, and with all her strength pulled her through the window.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are bully!" exclaimed Carrie, as soon as she was free. "They are
+the freshest I ever ate. Golumptious!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Carrie," said her mother, mournfully, "how can you use such
+expressions now, when you have wasted your opportunity in such an
+extravagant wish?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What! A whole roomful of chocolate creams do you consider a waste?"
+exclaimed Carrie. "Why, we shall be envied of all our neighbors; and,
+Mamma, you have been sighing over our expenses, and wishing that Jimmy
+and I could support you. Do not you see that we can make our fortune
+with chocolate creams? First, let us eat all we want before telling
+anybody; then let us give some to choice friends, and we will sell the
+rest."
+</p>
+<p>
+All the time she was talking Carrie was putting in her hand for
+chocolate creams and cramming one after another. Mrs. Fraser, too, did
+not refuse to taste them. How could they ever get into the parlor again,
+unless they were eaten up?
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sure we can make quite a fortune," Carrie went on. "As soon as
+Jimmy comes home we can calculate how much it will be. The last time I
+was in Boston I gave fifteen cents for a quarter of a pound, and there
+were just thirteen chocolate creams. Now, see. In my two hands I can
+hold fourteen; now, how many times that do you suppose there are in the
+room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Fraser could not think. Carrie was triumphant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jimmy will know how to calculate, for he knows how many feet and inches
+there are in the room. If not, he can measure by the piazza; and we can
+row the chocolate creams out, and see how many go to a foot, and then we
+can easily find out. Of course, we shall sell them cheaper than they do
+in Boston, and so there will be a rush for them. It will be bully!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad we happened to take this rocking-chair out on the piazza this
+morning," said Mrs. Fraser, languidly seating herself. "I don't see how
+we shall ever get into the parlor again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jimmy and I will eat our way in fast enough," said Carrie, laughing;
+and Jimmy at that moment appeared with two boy friends, whom he had
+brought home to dinner.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were all delighted when they understood the situation, and had soon
+eaten a little place by the window, inside the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I quite forgot to buy any dinner," exclaimed Mrs. Fraser, starting up.
+"I meant to have ordered a leg of mutton as I went down, and now it is
+too late; and eggs for a pudding. Jimmy will have to go down&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, the chocolate creams will do!" exclaimed Carrie. "Don't you see,
+there's our first saving, and my wish does not turn out so extravagant,
+after all. The boys will be glad to have chocolate creams for dinner,
+I'm sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+The boys all said they would, as far as they could, when their mouths
+were so full.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must put out an advertisement," said Carrie, at last, as soon as she
+could stop to speak: "'Chocolate creams sold cheap!' I guess we won't
+give any away. We may as well make all we can. It will be geminy!
+Suppose we look up some boxes and baskets, Jimmy, to sell them in; and
+you boys can go to the gate and tell people there are chocolate creams
+for sale."
+</p>
+<p>
+But all the boxes and baskets were soon filled, and only a little space
+made in the room. Jimmy pulled out the other rocking-chair that Carrie
+had been sitting in, and she rested herself for a while.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I declare, I never thought before I could eat enough chocolate creams;
+but they are a trifle cloying."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear," said Mrs. Fraser, "if you had not said 'chock full;' if you
+had said 'a great many,' or 'a trunkful,' or something of that sort."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I meant 'chock full,'" insisted Carrie.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not mean quite up to the ceiling. I didn't suppose that was what
+'chock' meant. Now we know."
+</p>
+<p>
+A great shouting was heard. All the boys of the town were gathering, and
+quite a crowd of people seemed coming near.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Fraser was a widow, and there was no man in the house. Jimmy was
+the nearest approach to a man that she could depend upon; and here he
+was, leading a band of boys! She sent one of the boys she knew the best
+for Mr. Stetson, the neighboring policeman, who came quickly, having
+already seen the crowd of boys flocking to the house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie was trying to sell off her boxes for fifteen, ten, even five
+cents; but the crowd could not be easily appeased, for the boys could
+see across the windows the chocolate creams closely packed. "The room is
+chock full!" they exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Stetson examined the premises. "You'll find it hard work to get
+them chocolates out in a week, even if you set all the boys on them. I'd
+advise letting them in one by one to fill their pockets, each to pay
+a cent."
+</p>
+<p>
+Even Carrie assented to this, and a line was formed, and boys let in
+through the window. They ate a way to the door that led into the entry,
+so that it could be opened and the room could be entered that way. The
+boys now went in at the window and came out at the door, eating as they
+went and filling their pockets. Carrie could not but sigh at thought of
+the Boston chocolates, more than a cent apiece! But the boys ate, and
+then the girls came and ate; but with night all had to leave, at last.
+It was possible to shut the window and lock it, and shut the door for
+the night, after they had gone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see why the chocolates should not stay on there weeks and
+weeks," said Carrie to her mother. "Of course, they won't be so fresh,
+day after day; but they will be fresher than some in the shops. I'm
+awfully tired of eating them now, and feel as if I never wanted to see
+a chocolate cream again; but I suppose I shall feel different after a
+night's sleep, and I think Mr. Stetson is wrong in advising us to sell
+them so low."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Fraser suggested she should like to go in the parlor to sit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But to-morrow is the day of the picnic," said Carrie, "and we shall be
+out-of-doors anyhow. I will take chocolate creams for my share. But,
+dear me! my dress is on the sofa,&mdash;my best dress. You were putting the
+ruffles in!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I told you, my dear, one of the last things, to take it upstairs," said
+Mrs. Fraser.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And there it is, in the furthest corner of the room," exclaimed Carrie,
+"with all those chocolates scrouching on it. I'll tell you. I'll get Ben
+Sykes in early. He eats faster than any of the other boys, and he shall
+eat up toward my dress. He made a great hole in the chocolates this
+afternoon. I will have him come in early, and we don't go to the picnic
+till after twelve o'clock."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And at twelve o'clock you have your second wish," said Mrs. Fraser.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Mamma," said Carrie; "and I have already decided what it shall
+be,&mdash;a chariot and four. It will come just in time to take me to the
+picnic."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, my dear Carrie," said her mother, "do think what you are planning!
+Where would you keep your chariot and the four horses?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh! there will be a man to take care of them," said Carrie; "but I will
+think about it all night carefully&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+At that very moment she went to sleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+The next morning early, Carrie was downstairs. She found she could eat
+a few more chocolate creams, and Jimmy was in the same condition. She
+proposed to him her plan of keeping the chocolates still for sale, but
+eating a way to the sofa in the corner, to her best dress.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ben Sykes came early, and a few of the other boys. The rest were kept at
+home, because it turned out they had eaten too many and their parents
+would not let them come.
+</p>
+<p>
+A good many of the older people came with baskets and boxes, and bought
+some to carry away, they were so delicious and fresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile Ben Sykes was eating his way toward the corner. It was very
+hard making any passage, for as fast as he ate out a place others came
+tumbling in from the top. Carrie and Jimmy invented "a kind of a tunnel"
+of chairs and ironing-boards, to keep open the passage; and other boys
+helped eat, as they were not expected to pay.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the morning passed on. Mrs. Fraser tried to persuade Carrie to wear
+another dress; but she had set her mind on this. She had a broad blue
+sash to wear with it, and the sash would not go with any other dress.
+</p>
+<p>
+She watched the clock, she watched Ben; she went in under the
+ironing-boards, to help him eat, although she had begun to loathe the
+taste of the chocolate creams.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ben was splendid. He seemed to enjoy more the more he ate. Carrie
+watched him, as he licked them and ate with glowing eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Ben," Carrie suddenly exclaimed, "you can't seem to eat them fast
+enough. I wish your throat were as long as from one end of this room to
+the other."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment the clock was striking.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie was ready to scream out her second wish; but she felt herself
+pushed in a strange way. Ben was on all fours in front of her, and now
+he pushed her back, back. His neck was so long that while his head was
+still among the chocolates, at the far corner of the room, his feet were
+now out of the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie stood speechless. She had lost her wish by her foolish
+exclamation. The faithful Ben, meanwhile, was flinging something through
+the opening. It was her dress, and she hurried away to put it on.
+</p>
+<p>
+When she came down, everybody was looking at Ben. At first he enjoyed
+his long neck very much. He could stand on the doorstep and put his head
+far out up in the cherry trees and nip off cherries, which pleased both
+the boys and himself.
+</p>
+<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a>
+
+
+<div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 15%; text-align: center; text-indent:0; font-variant: small-caps;">
+<a href="images/illust-04.jpg">
+<img src="images/illust-04.jpg" style="width: 100%;"
+alt="He Enjoyed his Long Neck Very Much." /></a><br />
+He Enjoyed his Long Neck Very Much.
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Instead of a chariot and four, Carrie went off in an open wagon, with
+the rest of the girls. It made her feel so to see Ben, with his long
+neck, that she got her mother's permission to spend the night with the
+friend in whose grounds the picnic was to be held.
+</p>
+<p>
+She carried baskets of chocolate creams, and she found numbers of the
+girls, who had not eaten any, who were delighted with them, and promised
+to come the next day, to buy and carry away any amount of them. She
+began to grow more cheerful, though she felt no appetite, and instead
+of eating everything, as she always did at picnics, she could not even
+touch Mattie Somers's cream-pie nor Julia Dale's doughnuts. She stayed
+as late as she could at her friend Mattie's; but she felt she must get
+home in time for her third wish, at twelve o'clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+Would it be necessary for her to wish that Ben Sykes's neck should be
+made shorter? She hoped she might find that it had grown shorter in the
+night; then she could do as she pleased about her third wish.
+</p>
+<p>
+She still clung to the desire for the chariot and four. If she had it,
+she and her mother and Jimmy could get into it and drive far away from
+everybody,&mdash;from Ben Sykes and his long neck, if he still had it,&mdash;and
+never see any of them any more. Still, she would like to show the
+chariot and four to her friends; and perhaps Ben Sykes would not mind
+his long neck, and would be glad to keep it and earn money by showing
+himself at a circus.
+</p>
+<p>
+So she reached home in the middle of the morning, and found the whole
+Sykes family there, and Ben, still with his long neck. It seems it had
+given him great trouble in the night. He had to sleep with his head in
+the opposite house, because there was not room enough on one floor at
+home. Mrs. Sykes had not slept a wink, and her husband had been up
+watching, to see that nobody stepped on Ben's neck. Ben himself appeared
+in good spirits; but was glad to sit in a high room, where he could
+support his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie suggested her plan that Ben should exhibit himself. He, no doubt,
+could earn a large sum. But his mother broke out against this. He never
+could earn enough to pay for what he ate, now his throat was so long.
+Even before this he could swallow more oatmeal than all the rest of the
+family put together, and she was sure that now even Mr. Barnum himself
+could not supply him with food enough. Then she burst into a flood of
+tears, and said she had always hoped Ben would be her stay and support;
+and now he could never sleep at home, and everybody looking after him
+when he went out, and the breakfast he had eaten that very morning was
+enough for six peoples' dinners.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were all in the parlor, where the chocolate creams were partially
+cleared away. They were in a serried mass on two sides of the room,
+meeting near the centre, with the underground passage, through which Ben
+had worked his way to Carrie's dress. Mrs. Fraser had organized a band
+to fill pasteboard boxes, which she had obtained from the village, and
+she and her friends were filling them, to send away to be sold, as all
+the inhabitants of the town were now glutted with chocolate creams.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment Carrie heard a click in the clock. She looked at her
+mother, and as the clock struck she said steadily, "I wish that Ben's
+neck was all right again."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nobody heard her, for at that moment Ben Sykes started up, saying: "I'm
+all right, and I have had enough. Come along home!" And he dragged his
+family away with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carrie fell into her mother's arms. "I'll never say 'chock full' again!"
+she cried; "and I'll always be satisfied with what I have got, for I can
+never forget what I suffered in seeing Ben's long neck!"
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0017" id="h2H_4_0017"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    XII.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    "WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"
+</h3>
+<p>
+This was the cry in the Wilson family as they sat down to dinner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is odd," said Aunt Harriet. "I have noticed they are usually ready
+for their dinner. They may be out of the way at other times, but they
+always turn up at their meals."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were here at breakfast," said Jane, the eldest daughter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I helped Jack about his Latin before he went to school," said the
+mother of the family.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are probably at the Pentzes'," said Gertrude. "If our boys are not
+there, the Pentzes are here; and as long as the Pentzes are not here, I
+suppose our boys are there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say they were not likely to get so good a dinner at the
+Pentzes' as we have here," said Aunt Harriet, as a plate was set before
+her containing her special choice of rare-done beef, mashed potato,
+stewed celery, and apple-sauce.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who are the Pentzes?" said Mr. Wilson, looking round the table to see
+if everybody was helped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is a painter and glazier," said Aunt Harriet, "and the mother takes
+in washing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are good boys," said Mrs. Wilson. "Jonas Pentz stands high in his
+class, and is a great help to our Sam. Don't you remember him? He is the
+boy that came and spent a night with Sam a week ago. They have their
+first lesson in 'Cæsar' this afternoon; perhaps they are studying up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jack always has to go where Sam does," said Gertrude.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was the talk at the Wilsons' table. The subject was much the same
+at the Pentzes'. There was a large family at the Wilsons'; so there was
+at the Pentzes'. Mrs. Pentz was ladling out some boiled apple-pudding to
+a hungry circle round her. But she missed two.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where are Jonas and Dick?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+A clamor of answers came up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I saw Jonas and Dick go off with Sam Wilson after school, and Jack
+Wilson, and John Stebbins," said Will, one of the small boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't think Jonas and Dick both went to dine at the Wilsons'?" said
+Mrs. Pentz. "I should not like that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I dare say they did," said Mary Pentz. "You know the Wilson boys are
+here half the time, and the other half our boys are at the Wilsons'."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Still, I don't like their going there for meal-times," said Mrs. Pentz,
+anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jonas had a new lesson in 'Cæsar,'" said Mary Pentz. "I don't believe
+they planned to spend much time at dinner."
+</p>
+<p>
+But at supper-time no boys appeared at the Wilsons'. Mrs. Wilson was
+anxious. George, the youngest boy of all, said the boys had been home
+since afternoon school; he had seen Jack in the kitchen with John
+Stebbins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jack came to me for gingerbread," said Jane, "and I asked him where
+they had been, and John Stebbins said, with the Pentz boys. He said
+something about to-morrow being a holiday, and preparing for a lark."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't like their getting all their meals at the Pentzes'," said Mrs.
+Wilson, "and I don't much like John Stebbins."
+</p>
+<p>
+Again at the Pentzes' the talk was much the same.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mary Pentz reported the boys went through their 'Cæsar' recitation
+well; she had a nod of triumph from Jonas as he walked off with Sam
+Wilson. "They had their books, so I suppose they are off for study
+again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't like their taking two meals a day at the Wilsons'," said Mrs.
+Pentz.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's no school to-morrow," said Mary, "because the new furnace is to
+be put in. But I dare say the boys, Sam and Jonas, will be studying all
+the same."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope he won't be out late," said Mrs. Pentz.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's more likely to spend the night at the Wilsons'," said Mary. "You
+know he did a week ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The boys were round here for a candle," said Will.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then they do mean to study late," said Mrs. Pentz. "I shall tell him
+never to do it again; and with Dick, too!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Wilson came hurrying home for a late supper, and announced he must
+go to New York by a late train.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A good chance for you," he said to his wife, "to go and see your
+sister. You won't have more than a day with her, for I shall have to
+take the night train back, but it will give you a day's talk."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Wilson would like to go, but she felt anxious about the boys. "They
+have not been home for dinner or supper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But they came home for gingerbread," said Aunt Harriet. "I suppose they
+didn't have too hearty a dinner at the Pentzes'."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Joanna says they went off with a basket packed up for to-morrow," said
+Gertrude.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If the Pentzes did not live so far off, I would send up," said Mrs.
+Wilson.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They will be in by the time we are off, or soon after," said Mr.
+Wilson. "It looks like rain, but it won't hurt us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Wilson and he went, but no boys appeared all the evening.
+</p>
+<p>
+Aunt Harriet, who had not been long in the family, concluded this was
+the way boys acted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Jane sat up some time finishing a novel, and hurried off to bed,
+startled to find it so late, and waking up Gertrude to say, "It is odd
+those boys have not come home!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Why hadn't they?
+</p>
+<p>
+They couldn't.
+</p>
+<p>
+This is what happened.
+</p>
+<p>
+Wednesday afternoon, after school, the younger boys had gone to play
+at the old Wilson house, far away at the other end of the Main Street,
+beyond the Pentzes'. This was an old deserted mansion, where the Wilsons
+themselves had lived once upon a time. But it had taken a fortune and
+two furnaces to warm it in winter, and half a dozen men to keep the
+garden in order in summer, and it had grown now more fashionable to live
+at the other end of the town; so the Wilson family had moved down years
+ago, where the girls could see "the passing" and Mr. Wilson would be
+near his business. Of late years he had not been able to let the house,
+and it had been closely shut to keep it from the tramps. The boys had
+often begged the keys of their father, for they thought it would be such
+fun to take possession of the old house. But Mr. Wilson said, "No; if a
+parcel of boys found their way in, all the tramps in the neighborhood
+would learn how to get in too." Still, it continued the object of the
+boys' ambition to get into the house, and they were fond of going up to
+play in the broad grassy space by the side of the house; and they kept
+good oversight of the apple crop there.
+</p>
+<p>
+On this Wednesday afternoon they were playing ball there, and lost the
+ball. It had gone through a ventilation hole into the cellar part of the
+house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, everybody knows that if a boy loses a ball it must be recovered,
+especially if he knows where it is. There is not even a woman so
+stony-hearted but she will let in a troop of muddy-shoed boys through
+her entry (just washed) if they come to look for a ball, even if it
+has broken a pane of glass on its way. So the boys got a ladder from
+the Pentzes', and put it up at one of the windows where the blind was
+broken. Jack went up the ladder. The slat was off, but not in the right
+place to open the window. There could not be any harm in breaking off
+another; then he could reach the middle of the sash and pull up the
+window. No; it was fastened inside. John Stebbins tried, but it was of
+no use.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would not help if we broke the window by the fastening," said John;
+"for the shutters are closed inside with old-fashioned inside shutters."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here was the time to ask for the key. They must have the key to find
+that ball, and the boys trudged back to meet Sam just going home from
+the Pentzes'.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Sam refused to ask for the key again, He didn't want to bother his
+father so soon, and he didn't want the bother himself. He had his new
+"Cæsar" lesson to study; to-morrow, after school, he and Jonas would
+look round at the house, and find some way to recover the ball, for even
+the stern and studious Sam knew the value of a ball.
+</p>
+<p>
+So Thursday noon the boys all hurried up to the Wilson house,&mdash;Sam,
+Jonas, and all. They examined it on every side. They came back to the
+hole where the ball was lost.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's the cold-air box," said Jonas. "Could not Dick crawl in?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, Dick was a very small pattern of a boy, indeed, to be still a boy.
+Really he might crawl into the cold-air box. He tried it! He did get in!
+He had to squeeze through one part, but worked his way down fairly into
+the cellar, and screamed out with triumph that he had found the ball
+close by the hole! But how was Dick to get out again? He declared he
+could never scramble up. He slipped back as fast as he tried. He would
+look for the cellar stairs, only it was awful dark except just by the
+hole. He had a match in his pocket. Jack ran to the Pentzes' and got a
+candle, and they rolled it in to Dick, and waited anxiously to see where
+he would turn up next. They heard him, before long, pounding at a door
+round the corner of the house. He had found the cellar stairs, and a
+door with bolts and a great rusty key, which he succeeded in turning.
+The boys pulled at the door and it opened; and there stood Dick with the
+ball in one hand, picking up the candle with the other!
+</p>
+<p>
+What a chance to enter the house! Down the cellar stairs, up into the
+attics! Strange echoes in the great halls, and dark inside; for all the
+windows were closed and barred,&mdash;all but in one room upstairs that
+opened on a back veranda. It was a warm late-autumn day, and the sun
+poured down pleasantly upon a seat in the corner of the veranda, where
+a creeper was shedding its last gay leaves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a place to study!" exclaimed Sam.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let's come and spend to-morrow," said John Stebbins; "there's no
+school."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No school Friday, on account of the furnace!" exclaimed Jack. "Let's
+bring a lot of provisions and stay the whole day here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We might lay it in to-night," said John Stebbins; "we'll come up after
+school this afternoon!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I'll tell father about the key this evening," said Sam; "he won't
+mind, if he finds we have got one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jack and I will see to the provisions," said John Stebbins, "if the
+rest of you boys will come here as soon as school is over."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was all so interesting that they were too late for dinners, and had
+to content themselves with gingerbread as they hurried to school.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Be sure you tell mother," was Sam's last warning to Jack and John
+Stebbins, as they parted for their separate schoolrooms.
+</p>
+<p>
+After school the party hastened to the old house. Sam took the entry key
+from his pocket and opened the door, leaving Dick to wait for Jack and
+John Stebbins. They appeared before long with a basket of provisions,
+and were ready for a feast directly, but delayed for a further
+examination of the house. It was dark soon, and Sam would not let them
+stay long in any one room. They must just take a look, and then go
+home,&mdash;no waiting for a feast.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll talk to father this evening, and ask him if we may have it if we
+keep the whole thing secret."
+</p>
+<p>
+They fumbled their way down to the lower back door, but could not get it
+open. It was locked!
+</p>
+<p>
+"We left the key in the door outside," said Dick, in a low whisper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You ninnies!" exclaimed Sam, "somebody saw you and has locked us in."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some of the boys, to plague us," said John Stebbins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mighty great secrecy, now," said Sam, "if half the boys in town know we
+are here. It all comes of that great basket of provisions you saw fit to
+bring round."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll be glad enough of it," said John Stebbins, "if we have to spend
+the night here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let's have it now," said Jack.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We may as well occupy ourselves that way," said Sam, in a resigned
+tone, "till they choose to let us out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose we go up to the room with the bed and the sofa," said John
+Stebbins; "and we've got a surprise for you. There's a pie,&mdash;let's eat
+that."
+</p>
+<p>
+They stumbled their way back. The provident John Stebbins had laid in
+more candles, and they found an old table and had a merry feast.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sam and Jonas had their books. When Sam had hold of a fresh Latin book
+he could not keep away from it. Jonas's mind was busy with a new
+invention. The boys thought he would make his fortune by it. He was
+determined to invent some use for coal ashes. They were the only things
+that were not put to some use by his mother in their establishment. He
+thought he should render a service to mankind if he could do something
+useful with coal ashes. So he had studied all the chemistry books, and
+had one or two in his pockets now, and drew out a paper with H O, and
+other strange letters and figures on it. The other boys after supper
+busied themselves with arranging the room for a night's sleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's awful jolly," said Dick. "This bed will hold four of us. I'll
+sleep across the foot, and Sam shall have the sofa."
+</p>
+<p>
+But Sam rose up from his study. "I've no notion of spending the night
+here. The door must be open by this time."
+</p>
+<p>
+He went to the window that looked out on the veranda. There was a heavy
+rain-storm; it was pouring hard. It was hard work getting down to the
+door in the dark. The candle kept going out; and they found the door
+still locked when they reached it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not spend the night?" said Jonas. "They'll have got over their
+worries at home by this time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nobody could come up here to see after us in this rain," said Sam.
+"I suppose they think that as we have made our bed we may as well sleep
+in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sleep they did until a late hour in the morning. All the windows but the
+one upon the veranda closed with shutters. They woke up to find snow and
+rain together. They went all over the house to find some way of getting
+out, but doors and windows were well closed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's no use, boys," said Sam. "We've tried it often enough from outside
+to get in, and now it is as hard to get out. I was always disgusted that
+the windows were so high from the ground. Anyhow, father or some of the
+folks will be after us sometime. What was it you told mother?" Sam
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+John Stebbins had to confess that he had not seen Mrs. Wilson, and
+indeed had been vague with the information he had left with Jane. "I
+told them we were with the Pentz boys," he said; "I thought it just as
+well to keep dark."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mighty dark we all of us are!" said Sam, in a rage. He was so angry
+that John Stebbins began to think he had made Jane understand where they
+were, and he tried to calm Sam down. Jonas proposed that Dick should be
+put through the cold-air box again. With a little squeezing from behind
+he must be able to get through. Everybody but Dick thought it such a
+nice plan that he was obliged to agree. But what was their horror when
+they reached the place to find some boards nailed across the outside!
+</p>
+<p>
+"A regular siege!" said Sam. "Well, if they can stand it I guess we
+can." His mettle was up. "We'll stay till relief forces come. It is some
+trick of the boys. Lucky there's no school. They can't hold out long."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A state of siege! What fun!" cried the boys.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only wish we had brought two pies," said John Stebbins. "But there's
+plenty of gingerbread."
+</p>
+<p>
+Now they would ransack the house at their leisure. There was light
+enough in the attics to explore the treasures hidden there. They found
+old coal-hods for helmets, and warming-pans for fiery steeds, and they
+had tournaments in the huge halls. They piled up carpets for their
+comfort in their bedroom,&mdash;bits of old carpet,&mdash;and Jonas and Sam
+discovered a pile of old worm-eaten books. The day seemed too short,
+and the provender lasted well.
+</p>
+<p>
+The night, however, was not so happy. The candles were growing short
+and matches fewer. Sam and Jonas had to economize in reading, and told
+stories instead, and the stories had a tendency to ghosts. Dick and Jack
+murmured to John Stebbins it was not such fun after all; when, lo! their
+own talk was interrupted by noises below! A sound of quarrelling voices
+came from the rooms beneath. Voices of men! They went on tiptoe to the
+head of the stairs to listen.
+</p>
+<p>
+Tramps, indeed!
+</p>
+<p>
+How had they got in? Was it they who had locked the door? Did they come
+in that way?
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose we go down," said Sam, in a whisper. But John Stebbins and the
+little boys would not think of it. The men were swearing at each other;
+there was a jingle of bottles and sound of drinking.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's my opinion we had better keep quiet," said Jonas. "It is a poor
+set, and I don't know what they would do to us if they saw we had found
+them out and would be likely to tell of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+So they crept back noiselessly. In a state of siege, indeed! John
+Stebbins, with help of the others, lifted the sofa across the door and
+begged Sam to sleep on it. But that night there was not much sleep! The
+storm continued, snow, hail, and rain, and wind howling against the
+windows. Toward morning they did fall asleep. It was at a late hour they
+waked up and went to peer out from the veranda window. There was a
+policeman passing round the house!
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Meanwhile there had been great anxiety at the Wilsons'.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If it were not for the storm," said Aunt Harriet, "I should send up to
+the Pentzes' to inquire about those boys."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose it's the storm that keeps them," said Jane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If it were not for the storm," Mrs. Pentz was saying to Mary, "I should
+like you to go down to the Wilsons' and see what those boys are about."
+</p>
+<p>
+As to Mrs. Stebbins, John was so seldom at home it did not occur to her
+to wonder where he was.
+</p>
+<p>
+But when Saturday morning came, and no boys, Aunt Harriet said, "There's
+a little lull in the storm. I can't stand it any longer, Jane. I am
+going to put on my waterproof and go up to the Pentzes'."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will go too," said Jane; and Gertrude and George joined the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half-way up the long street they met the Pentz family coming down to
+make the same inquiries,&mdash;Mr. and Mrs. Pentz, Mary, Sophy, Will, and the
+rest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where are the boys?" was the exclamation as they met half-way between
+the two houses.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Johnson, one of the leading men of the town, crossed the street to
+ask what was the commotion in the two families. "Our boys are missing,"
+said Mr. Pentz. "Five boys!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We haven't seen them since Thursday morning," said Aunt Harriet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were at home Thursday afternoon," said Mary Pentz.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must speak to the police," said Mr. Pentz.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is up at the Wilson House," said Mr. Johnson. "There were tramps in
+the house there last night, and the police came very near catching them.
+He found the door unlocked night before last. The tramps kept off that
+night, but turned up last night in the storm. They have got off,
+however. There is only one policeman, but we've sworn in a special to
+keep guard on the house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll go up and see him," said Mr. Pentz.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll all go up," said Harriet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps the tramps have gone off with the boys," said Gertrude.
+</p>
+<p>
+Quite a crowd had collected with the party as they moved up the street,
+and all together came to the front of the house. The policeman was just
+disappearing round the other side. They turned to the back to meet him,
+and reached the corner where the veranda looked down upon the yard.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment Mr. and Mrs. Wilson appeared. They had arrived at the
+station from New York, and heard there the story of the disappearance of
+the boys, and of tramps in the house. They hastened to the scene, Mrs.
+Wilson almost distracted, and now stood with the rest of the Wilsons and
+the Pentzes awaiting the policeman. They heard a cry from above, and
+looked up to the veranda.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were all the boys in a row.
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0018" id="h2H_4_0018"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    XIII.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    A PLACE FOR OSCAR.
+</h3>
+<p>
+"I don't like tiresome fables," said Jack, throwing down an old book in
+which he had been trying to read; "it is so ridiculous making the beasts
+talk. Of course they never do talk that way, and if they did talk, they
+would not be giving that kind of advice But then they never did talk.
+Did you ever hear of a beast talking, Ernest, except in a fable?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Ernest looked up from his book.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, yes," he said decidedly; "the horses of Achilles talked, don't you
+remember?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that was a kind of fable," said Jack. "Our horses never talked.
+Bruno comes near it sometimes. But, Hester, don't you think fables are
+tiresome? They always have a moral tagged on!" he continued, appealing
+to his older sister; for Ernest proved a poor listener, and was deep in
+his book again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will tell you a fable about a boy," said Hester, sitting down with
+her work, "and you shall see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But don't let the beasts speak," said Jack, "and don't let the boy give
+advice!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He won't even think of it," said Hester; and she went on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once there was a boy, and his name was Oscar, and he went to a very
+good school, where he learned to spell and read very well, and do a few
+sums. But when he had learned about as much as that, he took up a new
+accomplishment. This was to fling up balls, two at a time, and catch
+them in his hands. This he could do wonderfully well; but then a great
+many other boys could. He, however, did it at home; he did it on the
+sidewalk; he could do it sitting on the very top of a board fence; but
+he was most proud of doing it in school hours while the teacher was not
+looking. This grew to be his great ambition. He succeeded once or twice,
+when she was very busy with a younger class, and once while her back was
+turned, and she was at the door receiving a visitor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that did not satisfy him: he wanted to be able to do it when she
+was sitting on her regular seat in front of the platform; and every day
+he practised, sometimes with one ball and sometimes with another. It
+took a great deal of his time and all of his attention; and often some
+of the other boys were marked for laughing when he succeeded. And he had
+succeeded so well that the teacher had not the slightest idea what they
+were laughing at.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All this was very satisfactory to him; but it was not so well for him
+at the end of the year, because it turned out he was behind-hand in all
+his studies, and he had to be put down into a lower room. But coming
+into another room with a fresh teacher, he had to learn his favorite
+accomplishment all over again. It was difficult, for she was a very
+rigid teacher, and seemed to have eyes in every hair of her head; and
+he sat at the other side of the room, so that he had to change hands
+somehow in throwing the balls and getting them into his desk quick
+without being seen. But there were a number of younger boys in the
+room who enjoyed it all very much, so that he was a real hero, and
+felt himself quite a favorite. He did manage to keep up better in his
+arithmetic, too, in spite of his having so little time for his books.
+Perhaps from having to watch the teacher so much, he did learn the
+things that he heard her repeat over and over again; and then he picked
+up some knowledge from the other boys. Still, all through his school
+term, he was sent about more or less from one room to another. The
+teachers could not quite understand why such a bright-looking boy, who
+seemed to be always busy with his lessons, was not farther on in his
+studies.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So it happened, when they all left school, Oscar was himself surprised
+to find that the boys of his age were ahead of him in various ways. A
+large class went on to the high school; but Oscar, as it proved, was not
+at all fitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And his father took him round from one place to another to try to get
+some occupation for him. He looked so bright that he was taken for an
+office-boy here and there; but he never stayed. The fact was, the only
+thing he could do well was to fling balls up in the air and catch them
+in turn, without letting them drop to the ground; and this he could
+only do best on the sly, behind somebody's back. Now this, though
+entertaining to those who saw it for a little while, did not help on his
+employers, who wondered why they did not get more work out of Oscar.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A certain Mr. Spenser, a friend of Oscar's father, asked him to bring
+his boy round to his office, and he would employ him. 'He will have to
+do a little drudgery at first, but I think we can promote him soon, if
+he is faithful.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"So Oscar went with his father to Mr. Spenser's office. Mr. Spenser
+started a little when he saw Oscar; but after talking awhile, he went to
+his table, and took from a drawer two balls. 'My little boy left these
+here this morning,' he said. 'How long do you think,' turning to Oscar,
+'you could keep them up in the air without letting them drop?'
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oscar was much pleased. Here was his chance; at this office the kind of
+thing he could do was wanted. So he dexterously took the balls, and
+flung them up and down, and might have kept at it all the morning but
+that Mr. Spenser said at last, 'That will do, and it is more than
+enough.' He said, turning to Oscar's father: 'As soon as I saw your boy
+I thought I recognized him as a boy I saw one day in the school flinging
+balls up in the air on the sly behind his teacher's back. I'm sorry to
+see that he keeps up the art still. But I felt pretty sure that day that
+he couldn't have learned much else. I should be afraid to take him into
+my office with a propensity to do things on the sly, for I have other
+boys that must learn to be busy. Perhaps you can find some other place
+for Oscar.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Oscar could not find the kind of place.
+</p>
+<p>
+"His friend, Seth Clayton, had been fond of collecting insects all
+through his school years. Oscar used to laugh at his boxes full of bugs.
+But Seth used to study them over, and talk about them with his teacher,
+who told him all she knew, and helped him to find books about them. And
+it was when she was leaning over a beautiful specimen of a night-moth
+that Oscar had performed his most remarkable feat of keeping three balls
+in the air for a second and a half. This was in their last school year.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now, after some years more of study, Seth was appointed to join an
+expedition to go to South America and look up insects along the Amazon
+and in Brazil.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Just what I should like to do,' said Oscar; for he had studied a
+little about the geography of South America, and thought it would be fun
+catching cocoanuts with the help of the monkeys, and have a salary too.
+'That is something I really could do,' said Oscar to Seth. But Seth
+went, and Oscar was left behind.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will Leigh had the best chance, perhaps. He used to be a great crony of
+Oscar. He went through the Latin School, and then to Harvard College.
+'He was always burrowing into Latin and Greek,' said Oscar; 'much as
+ever you could do to get an English word out of him.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, he was wanted as professor in a Western college; so they sent him
+for three years to a German university to study up his Hebrew. But he
+was to travel about Europe first.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I wish they would send me,' said Oscar. 'Travelling about Europe is
+just what I should like, and just what I could do. It is a queer thing
+that just these fellows that can work hard, and like to work too, get
+the easiest places, where they have only to lie back and do nothing!'
+</p>
+<p>
+"Even some of the boys who were behind him in school and below him in
+lower classes came out ahead. Sol Smith, whom Oscar always thought a
+stupid dunce, had the place in Mr. Spenser's office that he would have
+liked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Mr. Spenser took Sol out to his country place in the mountains,' Oscar
+complained, 'where he has boats and plenty of fishing. I know I could
+have caught a lot of trout. It is just what I can do. But that stupid
+Sol, if he looked at a trout, he probably frightened it away.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was just so all along through life. Oscar could not find exactly the
+place he was fitted for. One of his friends, Tracy, went out West as
+engineer. 'I could have done that,' said Oscar; 'I could have carried
+the chain as easy as not. It is a little hard that all the rest of the
+fellows tumble into these easy places. There's Tracy making money hand
+over hand.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next he heard of him Tracy was in the legislature. 'That I could
+do,' said Oscar. 'It is easy enough to go and sit in the legislature,
+with your hands in your pockets, and vote when your turn comes; or you
+needn't be there all the time if you don't choose.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they put Oscar up for the legislature; but he lost the vote, because
+he forgot to sign his name to an important note, in answer to one of his
+'constituents.' He tried for Congress, too, but without success. He
+talked round among his friends about running for President. There was
+the great White House to live in. He would be willing to stay all
+summer. He felt he should be the right person, as he had never done
+anything, and would offend no party.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But even for President something more is needed than catching
+half-a-dozen balls without letting them fall to the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once, indeed, he had thought of joining a circus; but he could not
+equal the Chinese juggler with the balls, and it tired him to jump up
+and down. His father got him the place of janitor at an art building;
+but he made mistakes in making change for tickets, and put wrong checks
+on the umbrellas and parasols, so that nobody got the right umbrella. He
+was really glad when they dismissed him, it tired him so. It was harder
+work than flinging balls&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look at here, you need not go on," said Jack, interrupting his sister.
+"I never did it but just once in school, and that was when you happened
+to come in and speak to Miss Eaton. I was real ashamed that you caught
+me at it then, and I have never had the balls at school since, or
+thought of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The beast has spoken," said Ernest, looking up from his book.
+</p>
+<p>
+Jack made a rush at his brother. "Oh! stop," said Ernest; "let us find
+out what became of Oscar."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He has married," said Hester, "and his wife supports him."
+</p>
+<a name="h2H_4_0019" id="h2H_4_0019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    XIV.
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    THE FIRST NEEDLE.
+</h3>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">   "Have you heard the new invention, my dears, </p>
+<p class="i2">   That a man has invented?" said she. </p>
+<p class="i2">   "It's a stick with an eye, </p>
+<p class="i2">   Through which you can tie </p>
+<p class="i2">   A thread so long, it acts like a thong; </p>
+<p class="i2">   And the men have such fun </p>
+<p class="i2">   To see the thing run! </p>
+<p class="i2">   A firm, strong thread, through that eye at the head, </p>
+<p class="i2">   Is pulled over the edges most craftily, </p>
+<p class="i2">   And makes a beautiful seam to see!" </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">   "What! instead of those wearisome thorns, my dear, </p>
+<p class="i2">   Those wearisome thorns?" cried they. </p>
+<p class="i2">   "The seam we pin, </p>
+<p class="i2">   Driving them in; </p>
+<p class="i2">   But where are they, by the end of the day, </p>
+<p class="i2">   With dancing and jumping and leaps by the sea? </p>
+<p class="i2">   For wintry weather </p>
+<p class="i2">   They won't hold together, </p>
+<p class="i2">   Seal-skins and bear-skins all dropping round, </p>
+<p class="i2">   Off from our shoulders down to the ground. </p>
+<p class="i2">   The thorns, the tiresome thorns, will prick, </p>
+<p class="i2">   But none of them ever consented to stick! </p>
+<p class="i2">   Oh, won't the men let us this new thing use? </p>
+<p class="i2">   If we mend their clothes, they can't refuse. </p>
+<p class="i2">   Ah, to sew up a seam for them to see,&mdash; </p>
+<p class="i2">   What a treat, a delightful treat, 't will be!" </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">   "Yes, a nice thing, too, for the babies, my dears,&mdash; </p>
+<p class="i2">   But, alas, there is but one!" cried she. </p>
+<p class="i2">   "I saw them passing it round, and then </p>
+<p class="i2">   They said it was only fit for men! </p>
+<p class="i2">   What woman would know </p>
+<p class="i2">   How to make the thing go? </p>
+<p class="i2">   There was not a man so foolish to dream </p>
+<p class="i2">   That any woman could sew up a seam!" </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">   Oh, then there was babbling and screaming, my dears! </p>
+<p class="i2">   "At least they might let us do that!" cried they. </p>
+<p class="i2">   "Let them shout and fight </p>
+<p class="i2">   And kill bears day and night; </p>
+<p class="i2">   We'll leave them their spears and hatchets of stone </p>
+<p class="i2">   If they'll give us this thing for our very own. </p>
+<p class="i2">   It will be like a joy above all we could scheme, </p>
+<p class="i2">   To sit up all night and sew such a seam!" </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">   "Beware! take care!" cried an aged old crone, </p>
+<p class="i2">   "Take care what you promise!" said she. </p>
+<p class="i2">   "At first 't will be fun, </p>
+<p class="i2">   But, in the long run, </p>
+<p class="i2">   You'll wish that the men had let the thing be. </p>
+<p class="i2">   Through this stick with an eye </p>
+<p class="i2">   I look and espy </p>
+<p class="i2">   That for ages and ages you'll sit and you'll sew, </p>
+<p class="i2">   And longer and longer the seams will grow, </p>
+<p class="i2">   And you'll wish you never had asked to sew. </p>
+<p class="i2">   But nought that I say. </p>
+<p class="i2">   Can keep back the day; </p>
+<p class="i2">   For the men will return to their hunting and rowing. </p>
+<p class="i2">   And leave to the women forever the sewing." </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">   Ah! what are the words of an aged crone, </p>
+<p class="i2">   For all have left her muttering alone; </p>
+<p class="i2">   And the needle and thread they got with such pains. </p>
+<p class="i2">   They forever must keep as dagger and chains. </p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<a name="note-1"><!--Note--></a>
+<p class="foot">
+<u>1</u> (<a href="#noteref-1">return</a>)<br />
+A boat used for transportation on the Nile.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Last of the Peterkins, by Lucretia P. Hale
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last of the Peterkins, by Lucretia P. Hale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Last of the Peterkins
+       With Others of Their Kin
+
+Author: Lucretia P. Hale
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2005 [EBook #15546]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS,
+
+                       With Others of their kin.
+
+                          BY LUCRETIA P. HALE.
+
+
+
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                BOSTON:
+                       LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
+                                 1906.
+
+
+                           _Copyright, 1886_,
+                          BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.
+                               Printers
+                   S.J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+                                  TO
+
+                      THE LADY FROM PHILADELPHIA,
+
+                    BELOVED BY THE PETERKIN FAMILY,
+
+                        This Book is Dedicated.
+
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The following Papers contain the last records of the Peterkin Family,
+who unhappily ventured to leave their native land and have never
+returned. Elizabeth Eliza's Commonplace Book has been found among the
+family papers, and will be published here for the first time. It is
+evident that she foresaw that the family were ill able to contend with
+the commonplace struggle of life; and we may not wonder that they could
+not survive the unprecedented, far away from the genial advice of
+friends, especially that of the Lady from Philadelphia.
+
+It is feared that Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin lost their lives after leaving
+Tobolsk, perhaps in some vast conflagration.
+
+Agamemnon and Solomon John were probably sacrificed in some effort to
+join in or control the disturbances which arose in the distant places
+where they had established themselves,--Agamemnon in Madagascar, Solomon
+John in Rustchuk.
+
+The little boys have merged into men in some German university, while
+Elizabeth Eliza must have been lost in the mazes of the Russian language.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+The Last of the Peterkins.
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I. ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER
+
+    II. ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK
+
+   III. THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING
+
+    IV. THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR
+
+     V. THE PETERKINS "AT HOME"
+
+    VI. MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT
+
+   VII. MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID
+
+  VIII. THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS
+
+
+Others of their Kin.
+
+
+    IX. LUCILLA'S DIARY
+
+     X. JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK
+
+    XI. CARRIE'S THREE WISHES
+
+   XII. "WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"
+
+  XIII. A PLACE FOR OSCAR
+
+   XIV. THE FIRST NEEDLE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER.
+
+
+Elizabeth Eliza joined the Circumambient Club with the idea that it
+would be a long time before she, a new member, would have to read a
+paper. She would have time to hear the other papers read, and to see how
+it was done; and she would find it easy when her turn came. By that time
+she would have some ideas; and long before she would be called upon,
+she would have leisure to sit down and write out something. But a year
+passed away, and the time was drawing near. She had, meanwhile, devoted
+herself to her studies, and had tried to inform herself on all subjects
+by way of preparation. She had consulted one of the old members of the
+Club as to the choice of a subject.
+
+"Oh, write about anything," was the answer,--"anything you have been
+thinking of."
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was forced to say she had not been thinking lately. She
+had not had time. The family had moved, and there was always an
+excitement about something, that prevented her sitting down to think.
+
+"Why not write out your family adventures?" asked the old member.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was sure her mother would think it made them too public;
+and most of the Club papers, she observed, had some thought in them. She
+preferred to find an idea.
+
+[Illustration: Elizabeth Eliza writes a paper.]
+
+So she set herself to the occupation of thinking. She went out on
+the piazza to think; she stayed in the house to think. She tried a
+corner of the china-closet. She tried thinking in the cars, and lost her
+pocket-book; she tried it in the garden, and walked into the strawberry
+bed. In the house and out of the house, it seemed to be the same,--she
+could not think of anything to think of. For many weeks she was seen
+sitting on the sofa or in the window, and nobody disturbed her. "She is
+thinking about her paper," the family would say, but she only knew that
+she could not think of anything.
+
+Agamemnon told her that many writers waited till the last moment, when
+inspiration came which was much finer than anything studied. Elizabeth
+Eliza thought it would be terrible to wait till the last moment, if the
+inspiration should not come! She might combine the two ways,--wait till
+a few days before the last, and then sit down and write anyhow. This
+would give a chance for inspiration, while she would not run the risk
+of writing nothing.
+
+She was much discouraged. Perhaps she had better give it up? But, no;
+everybody wrote a paper: if not now, she would have to do it sometime!
+
+And at last the idea of a subject came to her! But it was as hard to
+find a moment to write as to think. The morning was noisy, till the
+little boys had gone to school; for they had begun again upon their
+regular course, with the plan of taking up the study of cider in
+October. And after the little boys had gone to school, now it was one
+thing, now it was another,--the china-closet to be cleaned, or one of
+the neighbors in to look at the sewing-machine. She tried after dinner,
+but would fall asleep. She felt that evening would be the true time,
+after the cares of day were over.
+
+The Peterkins had wire mosquito-nets all over the house,--at every door
+and every window. They were as eager to keep out the flies as the
+mosquitoes. The doors were all furnished with strong springs, that
+pulled the doors to as soon as they were opened. The little boys had
+practised running in and out of each door, and slamming it after them.
+This made a good deal of noise, for they had gained great success in
+making one door slam directly after another, and at times would keep up
+a running volley of artillery, as they called it, with the slamming of
+the doors. Mr. Peterkin, however, preferred it to flies.
+
+So Elizabeth Eliza felt she would venture to write of a summer evening
+with all the windows open.
+
+She seated herself one evening in the library, between two large
+kerosene lamps, with paper, pen, and ink before her. It was a beautiful
+night, with the smell of the roses coming in through the mosquito-nets,
+and just the faintest odor of kerosene by her side. She began upon her
+work. But what was her dismay! She found herself immediately surrounded
+with mosquitoes. They attacked her at every point. They fell upon her
+hand as she moved it to the inkstand; they hovered, buzzing, over her
+head; they planted themselves under the lace of her sleeve. If she moved
+her left hand to frighten them off from one point, another band fixed
+themselves upon her right hand. Not only did they flutter and sting, but
+they sang in a heathenish manner, distracting her attention as she tried
+to write, as she tried to waft them off. Nor was this all. Myriads of
+June-bugs and millers hovered round, flung themselves into the lamps,
+and made disagreeable funeral-pyres of themselves, tumbling noisily on
+her paper in their last unpleasant agonies. Occasionally one darted with
+a rush toward Elizabeth Eliza's head.
+
+If there was anything Elizabeth Eliza had a terror of, it was a
+June-bug. She had heard that they had a tendency to get into the hair.
+One had been caught in the hair of a friend of hers, who had long
+luxuriant hair. But the legs of the June-bug were caught in it like
+fish-hooks, and it had to be cut out, and the June-bug was only
+extricated by sacrificing large masses of the flowing locks.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza flung her handkerchief over her head. Could she
+sacrifice what hair she had to the claims of literature? She gave a cry
+of dismay.
+
+The little boys rushed in a moment to the rescue. They flapped
+newspapers, flung sofa-cushions; they offered to stand by her side
+with fly-whisks, that she might be free to write. But the struggle
+was too exciting for her, and the flying insects seemed to increase.
+Moths of every description--large brown moths, small, delicate white
+millers--whirled about her, while the irritating hum of the mosquito
+kept on more than ever. Mr. Peterkin and the rest of the family came in
+to inquire about the trouble. It was discovered that each of the little
+boys had been standing in the opening of a wire door for some time,
+watching to see when Elizabeth Eliza would have made her preparations
+and would begin to write. Countless numbers of dorbugs and winged
+creatures of every description had taken occasion to come in. It was
+found that they were in every part of the house.
+
+"We might open all the blinds and screens," suggested Agamemnon, "and
+make a vigorous onslaught and drive them all out at once."
+
+"I do believe there are more inside than out now," said Solomon John.
+
+"The wire nets, of course," said Agamemnon, "keep them in now."
+
+"We might go outside," proposed Solomon John, "and drive in all that are
+left. Then to-morrow morning, when they are all torpid, kill them and
+make collections of them."
+
+Agamemnon had a tent which he had provided in case he should ever go to
+the Adirondacks, and he proposed using it for the night. The little boys
+were wild for this.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin thought she and Elizabeth Eliza would prefer trying to
+sleep in the house. But perhaps Elizabeth Eliza would go on with her
+paper with more comfort out of doors.
+
+A student's lamp was carried out, and she was established on the steps
+of the back piazza, while screens were all carefully closed to prevent
+the mosquitoes and insects from flying out. But it was of no use. There
+were outside still swarms of winged creatures that plunged themselves
+about her, and she had not been there long before a huge miller flung
+himself into the lamp and put it out. She gave up for the evening.
+
+Still the paper went on. "How fortunate," exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza,
+"that I did not put it off till the last evening!" Having once begun,
+she persevered in it at every odd moment of the day. Agamemnon presented
+her with a volume of "Synonymes," which was of great service to her. She
+read her paper, in its various stages, to Agamemnon first, for his
+criticism, then to her father in the library, then to Mr. and Mrs.
+Peterkin together, next to Solomon John, and afterward to the whole
+family assembled. She was almost glad that the lady from Philadelphia
+was not in town, as she wished it to be her own unaided production. She
+declined all invitations for the week before the night of the club, and
+on the very day she kept her room with _eau sucree_, that she might
+save her voice. Solomon John provided her with Brown's Bronchial Troches
+when the evening came, and Mrs. Peterkin advised a handkerchief over her
+head, in case of June-bugs. It was, however, a cool night. Agamemnon
+escorted her to the house.
+
+The Club met at Ann Maria Bromwick's. No gentlemen were admitted to the
+regular meetings. There were what Solomon John called "occasional annual
+meetings," to which they were invited, when all the choicest papers of
+the year were re-read.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was placed at the head of the room, at a small table,
+with a brilliant gas-jet on one side. It was so cool the windows could
+be closed. Mrs. Peterkin, as a guest, sat in the front row.
+
+This was her paper, as Elizabeth Eliza read it, for she frequently
+inserted fresh expressions:--
+
+
+THE SUN.
+
+It is impossible that much can be known about it. This is why we
+have taken it up as a subject. We mean the sun that lights us by
+day and leaves us by night. In the first place, it is so far off.
+No measuring-tapes could reach it; and both the earth and the sun are
+moving about so, that it would be difficult to adjust ladders to reach
+it, if we could. Of course, people have written about it, and there are
+those who have told us how many miles off it is. But it is a very large
+number, with a great many figures in it; and though it is taught in most
+if not all of our public schools, it is a chance if any one of the
+scholars remembers exactly how much it is.
+
+It is the same with its size. We cannot, as we have said, reach it
+by ladders to measure it; and if we did reach it, we should have no
+measuring-tapes large enough, and those that shut up with springs are
+difficult to use in a high place. We are told, it is true, in a great
+many of the school-books, the size of the sun; but, again, very few of
+those who have learned the number have been able to remember it after
+they have recited it, even if they remembered it then. And almost all of
+the scholars have lost their school-books, or have neglected to carry
+them home, and so they are not able to refer to them,--I mean, after
+leaving school. I must say that is the case with me, I should say with
+us, though it was different. The older ones gave their school-books to
+the younger ones, who took them back to school to lose them, or who have
+destroyed them when there were no younger ones to go to school. I should
+say there are such families. What I mean is, the fact that in some
+families there are no younger children to take off the school-books. But
+even then they are put away on upper shelves, in closets or in attics,
+and seldom found if wanted,--if then, dusty.
+
+Of course, we all know of a class of persons called astronomers, who
+might be able to give us information on the subject in hand, and who
+probably do furnish what information is found in school-books. It should
+be observed, however, that these astronomers carry on their observations
+always in the night. Now, it is well known that the sun does not shine
+in the night. Indeed, that is one of the peculiarities of the night,
+that there is no sun to light us, so we have to go to bed as long as
+there is nothing else we can do without its light, unless we use lamps,
+gas, or kerosene, which is very well for the evening, but would be
+expensive all night long; the same with candles. How, then, can we
+depend upon their statements, if not made from their own observation?--I
+mean, if they never saw the sun?
+
+We cannot expect that astronomers should give us any valuable
+information with regard to the sun, which they never see, their
+occupation compelling them to be up at night. It is quite likely that
+they never see it; for we should not expect them to sit up all day as
+well as all night, as, under such circumstances, their lives would not
+last long.
+
+Indeed, we are told that their name is taken from the word _aster_,
+which means "star;" the word is "aster--know--more." This, doubtless,
+means that they know more about the stars than other things. We see,
+therefore, that their knowledge is confined to the stars, and we cannot
+trust what they have to tell us of the sun.
+
+There are other asters which should not be mixed up with these,--we mean
+those growing by the wayside in the fall of the year. The astronomers,
+from their nocturnal habits, can scarcely be acquainted with them; but
+as it does not come within our province, we will not inquire.
+
+We are left, then, to seek our own information about the sun. But we
+are met with a difficulty. To know a thing, we must look at it. How can
+we look at the sun? It is so very bright that our eyes are dazzled in
+gazing upon it. We have to turn away, or they would be put out,--the
+sight, I mean. It is true, we might use smoked glass, but that is apt to
+come off on the nose. How, then, if we cannot look at it, can we find
+out about it? The noonday would seem to be the better hour, when it is
+the sunniest; but, besides injuring the eyes, it is painful to the neck
+to look up for a long time. It is easy to say that our examination of
+this heavenly body should take place at sunrise, when we could look at
+it more on a level, without having to endanger the spine. But how many
+people are up at sunrise? Those who get up early do it because they are
+compelled to, and have something else to do than look at the sun.
+
+The milkman goes forth to carry the daily milk, the ice-man to leave
+the daily ice. But either of these would be afraid of exposing their
+vehicles to the heating orb of day,--the milkman afraid of turning the
+milk, the ice-man timorous of melting his ice,--and they probably avoid
+those directions where they shall meet the sun's rays. The student, who
+might inform us, has been burning the midnight oil. The student is not
+in the mood to consider the early sun.
+
+There remains to us the evening, also,--the leisure hour of the day.
+But, alas! our houses are not built with an adaptation to this subject.
+They are seldom made to look toward the sunset. A careful inquiry and
+close observation, such as have been called for in preparation of this
+paper, have developed the fact that not a single house in this town
+faces the sunset! There may be windows looking that way, but in such a
+case there is always a barn between. I can testify to this from personal
+observations, because, with my brothers, we have walked through the
+several streets of this town with notebooks, carefully noting every
+house looking upon the sunset, and have found none from which the sunset
+could be studied. Sometimes it was the next house, sometimes a row of
+houses, or its own wood-house, that stood in the way.
+
+Of course, a study of the sun might be pursued out of doors. But in
+summer, sunstroke would be likely to follow; in winter, neuralgia and
+cold. And how could you consult your books, your dictionaries, your
+encyclopaedias? There seems to be no hour of the day for studying the
+sun. You might go to the East to see it at its rising, or to the West
+to gaze upon its setting, but--you don't.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here Elizabeth Eliza came to a pause. She had written five different
+endings, and had brought them all, thinking, when the moment came,
+she would choose one of them. She was pausing to select one, and
+inadvertently said, to close the phrase, "you don't." She had not meant
+to use the expression, which she would not have thought sufficiently
+imposing,--it dropped out unconsciously,--but it was received as a close
+with rapturous applause.
+
+She had read slowly, and now that the audience applauded at such a
+length, she had time to feel she was much exhausted and glad of an end.
+Why not stop there, though there were some pages more? Applause, too,
+was heard from the outside. Some of the gentlemen had come,--Mr.
+Peterkin, Agamemnon, and Solomon John, with others,--and demanded
+admission.
+
+"Since it is all over, let them in," said Ann Maria Bromwick.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza assented, and rose to shake hands with her applauding
+friends.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK.
+
+
+I am going to jot down, from time to time, any suggestions that occur
+to me that will be of use in writing another paper, in case I am called
+upon. I might be asked unexpectedly for certain occasions, if anybody
+happened to be prevented from coming to a meeting.
+
+I have not yet thought of a subject, but I think that is not of as much
+consequence as to gather the ideas. It seems as if the ideas might
+suggest the subject, even if the subject does not suggest the ideas.
+
+Now, often a thought occurs to me in the midst, perhaps, of conversation
+with others; but I forget it afterwards, and spend a great deal of time
+in trying to think what it was I was thinking of, which might have been
+very valuable.
+
+I have indeed, of late, been in the habit of writing such thoughts on
+scraps of paper, and have often left the table to record some idea that
+occurred to me; but, looking up the paper and getting ready to write it,
+the thought has escaped me.
+
+Then again, when I have written it, it has been on the backs of
+envelopes or the off sheet of a note, and it has been lost, perhaps
+thrown into the scrap-basket. Amanda is a little careless about such
+things; and, indeed, I have before encouraged her in throwing away old
+envelopes, which do not seem of much use otherwise, so perhaps she is
+not to blame.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The more I think of it, the more does it seem to me there would be an
+advantage if everybody should have the same number to their houses,--of
+course not everybody, but everybody acquainted. It is so hard to
+remember all the numbers; the streets you are not so likely to forget.
+Friends might combine to have the same number. What made me think of it
+was that we do have the same number as the Easterlys. To be sure, we are
+out of town, and they are in Boston; but it makes it so convenient, when
+I go into town to see the Easterlys, to remember that their number is
+the same as ours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Agamemnon has lost his new silk umbrella. Yet the case was marked with
+his name in full, and the street address and the town. Of course he left
+the case at home, going out in the rain. He might have carried it with
+the address in his pocket, yet this would not have helped after losing
+the umbrella. Why not have a pocket for the case in the umbrella?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In shaking the dust from a dress, walk slowly backwards. This prevents
+the dust from falling directly on the dress again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On Carving Duck.--It is singular that I can never get so much off the
+breast as other people do.
+
+Perhaps I have it set on wrong side up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I wonder why they never have catalogues for libraries arranged from the
+last letter of the name instead of the first.
+
+There is our Italian teacher whose name ends with a "j," which I should
+remember much easier than the first letter, being so odd.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I cannot understand why a man should want to marry his wife's deceased
+sister. If she is dead, indeed, how can he? And if he has a wife, how
+wrong! I am very glad there is a law against it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is well, in prosperity, to be brought up as though you were living in
+adversity; then, if you have to go back to adversity, it is all the
+same.
+
+On the other hand, it might be as well, in adversity, to act as though
+you were living in prosperity; otherwise, you would seem to lose the
+prosperity either way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Solomon John has invented a new extinguisher. It is to represent a Turk
+smoking a pipe, which is to be hollow, and lets the smoke out. A very
+pretty idea!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A bee came stumbling into my room this morning, as it has done every
+spring since we moved here,--perhaps not the same bee. I think there
+must have been a family bee-line across this place before ever a house
+was built here, and the bees are trying for it every year.
+
+Perhaps we ought to cut a window opposite.
+
+There's room enough in the world for me and thee; go thou and trouble
+some one else,--as the man said when he put the fly out of the window.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ann Maria thinks it would be better to fix upon a subject first; but
+then she has never yet written a paper herself, so she does not realize
+that you have to have some thoughts before you can write them. She
+should think, she says, that I would write about something that I see.
+But of what use is it for me to write about what everybody is seeing,
+as long as they can see it as well as I do?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The paper about emergencies read last week was one of the best I ever
+heard; but, of course, it would not be worth while for me to write the
+same, even if I knew enough.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My commonplace-book ought to show me what to do for common things; and
+then I can go to lectures, or read the "Rules of Emergencies" for the
+uncommon ones.
+
+Because, as a family, I think we are more troubled about what to do
+on the common occasions than on the unusual ones. Perhaps because the
+unusual things don't happen to us, or very seldom; and for the uncommon
+things, there is generally some one you can ask.
+
+I suppose there really is not as much danger about these uncommon things
+as there is in the small things, because they don't happen so often, and
+because you are more afraid of them.
+
+I never saw it counted up, but I conclude that more children tumble into
+mud-puddles than into the ocean or Niagara Falls, for instance. It was
+so, at least, with our little boys; but that may have been partly
+because they never saw the ocean till last summer, and have never been
+to Niagara. To be sure, they had seen the harbor from the top of Bunker
+Hill Monument, but there they could not fall in. They might have fallen
+off from the top of the monument, but did not. I am sure, for our little
+boys, they have never had the remarkable things happen to them. I
+suppose because they were so dangerous that they did not try them, like
+firing at marks and rowing boats. If they had used guns, they might
+have shot themselves or others; but guns have never been allowed in the
+house. My father thinks it is dangerous to have them. They might go
+off unexpected. They would require us to have gunpowder and shot in the
+house, which would be dangerous. Amanda, too, is a little careless.
+And we never shall forget the terrible time when the "fulminating paste"
+went off one Fourth of July. It showed what might happen even if you did
+not keep gunpowder in the house.
+
+To be sure, Agamemnon and Solomon John are older now, and might learn
+the use of fire-arms; but even then they might shoot the wrong
+person--the policeman or some friends coming into the house--instead of
+the burglar.
+
+And I have read of safe burglars going about. I don't know whether it
+means that it is safe for them or for us; I hope it is the latter.
+Perhaps it means that they go without fire-arms, making it safer for
+them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have the "Printed Rules for Emergencies," which will be of great use,
+as I should be apt to forget which to do for which. I mean I should be
+quite likely to do for burns and scalds what I ought to do for cramp.
+And when a person is choking, I might sponge from head to foot, which
+is what I ought to do to prevent a cold.
+
+But I hope I shall not have a chance to practise. We have never had the
+case of a broken leg, and it would hardly be worth while to break one on
+purpose.
+
+Then we have had no cases of taking poison, or bites from mad dogs,
+perhaps partly because we don't keep either poison or dogs; but then our
+neighbors might, and we ought to be prepared. We do keep cats, so that
+we do not need to have poison for the rats; and in this way we avoid
+both dangers,--from the dogs going mad, and from eating the poison by
+mistake instead of the rats.
+
+To be sure, we don't quite get rid of the rats, and need a trap for the
+mice; but if you have a good family cat it is safer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About window-curtains--I mean the drapery ones--we have the same trouble
+in deciding every year. We did not put any in the parlor windows when we
+moved, only window-shades, because there were so many things to be done,
+and we wanted time to make up our minds as to what we would have.
+
+But that was years ago, and we have not decided yet, though we consider
+the subject every spring and fall.
+
+The trouble is, if we should have heavy damask ones like the Bromwicks',
+it would be very dark in the winter, on account of the new, high
+building opposite.
+
+Now, we like as much light as we can get in the winter, so we have
+always waited till summer, thinking we would have some light muslin
+ones, or else of the new laces. But in summer we like to have the room
+dark, and the sun does get round in the morning quite dazzling on the
+white shades. (We might have dark-colored shades, but there would be the
+same trouble of its being too dark in the winter.)
+
+We seem to need the heavy curtains in summer and the light curtains in
+winter, which would look odd. Besides, in winter we do need the heavy
+curtains to shut out the draughts, while in summer we like all the air
+we can get.
+
+I have been looking for a material that shall shut out the air and yet
+let in the light, or else shut out the light and let in the air; or else
+let in the light when you want it, and not when you don't. I have not
+found it yet; but there are so many new inventions that I dare say I
+shall come across it in time. They seem to have invented everything
+except a steamer that won't go up and down as well as across.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I never could understand about averages. I can't think why people are so
+fond of taking them,--men generally. It seems to me they tell anything
+but the truth. They try to tell what happens every evening, and they
+don't tell one evening right.
+
+There was our Free Evening Cooking-school. We had a class of fourteen
+girls; and they admired it, and liked nothing better, and attended
+regularly. But Ann Maria made out the report according to the average of
+attendance on the whole number of nights in the ten weeks of the school,
+one evening a week; so she gave the numbers 12-3/5 each night.
+
+Now the fact was, they all came every night except one, when there was
+such a storm, nobody went,--not even the teacher, nor Ann Maria, nor any
+of us. It snowed and it hailed and the wind blew, and our steps were so
+slippery Amanda could not go out to put on ashes; ice even on the upper
+steps. The janitor, who makes the fire, set out to go; but she was blown
+across the street, into the gutter. She did succeed in getting in to Ann
+Maria's, who said it was foolish to attempt it, and that nobody would
+go; and I am not sure but she spent the night there,--at Ann Maria's, I
+mean. Still, Ann Maria had to make up the account of the number of
+evenings of the whole course.
+
+But it looks, in the report, as though there were never the whole
+fourteen there, and as though 1-2/5 of a girl stayed away every night,
+when the facts are we did not have a single absence, and the whole
+fourteen were there every night, except the night there was no school;
+and I have been told they all had on their things to come that night,
+but their mothers would not let them,--those that had mothers,--and they
+would have been blown away if they had come.
+
+It seems to me the report does not present the case right, on account of
+the averages.
+
+I think it is indeed the common things that trouble one to decide about,
+as I have said, since for the remarkable ones one can have advice. The
+way we do on such occasions is to ask our friends, especially the lady
+from Philadelphia.
+
+Whatever we should have done without her, I am sure I cannot tell, for
+her advice is always inestimable. To be sure, she is not always here;
+but there is the daily mail (twice from here to Boston), and the
+telegraph, and to some places the telephone.
+
+But for some common things there is not time for even the telephone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Yesterday morning, for instance, going into Boston in the early train,
+I took the right side for a seat, as is natural, though I noticed that
+most of the passengers were crowding into the seats on the other side.
+I found, as we left the station, that I was on the sunny side, which was
+very uncomfortable. So I made up my mind to change sides, coming out.
+But, unexpectedly, I stayed in till afternoon at Mrs. Easterly's. It
+seems she had sent a note to ask me (which I found at night all right,
+when I got home), as Mr. Easterly was away. So I did not go out till
+afternoon. I did remember my determination to change sides in going out,
+and as I took the right going in, not to take the right going out. But
+then I remembered, as it was afternoon, the sun would have changed; so
+if the right side was wrong in the morning, it would be right in the
+afternoon. At any rate, it would be safe to take the other side. I did
+observe that most of the people took the opposite side, the left side;
+but I supposed they had not stopped to calculate.
+
+When we came out of the station and from under the bridges, I found I
+was sitting in the sun again, the same way as in the morning, in spite
+of all my reasoning. Ann Maria, who had come late and taken the last
+seat on the other side, turned round and called across to me, "Why do
+you always take the sunny side? Do you prefer it?" I was sorry not to
+explain it to her, but she was too far off.
+
+It might be safe to do what most of the other people do, when you cannot
+stop to inquire; but you cannot always tell, since very likely they may
+be mistaken. And then if they have taken all the seats, there is not
+room left for you. Still, this time, in coming out, I had reached the
+train in plenty of season, and might have picked out my seat, but then
+there was nobody there to show where most of the people would go. I
+might have changed when I saw where most would go; but I hate changing,
+and the best seats were all taken.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My father thinks it would be a good plan for Amanda to go to the
+Lectures on Physics. She has lived with us a great many years, and she
+still breaks as many things as she did at the beginning.
+
+Dr. Murtrie, who was here the other night, said he learned when quite a
+boy, from some book on Physics, that if he placed some cold water in the
+bottom of a pitcher, before pouring in boiling-hot water, it would not
+break. Also, that in washing a glass or china pitcher in very hot water,
+the outside and inside should be in the hot water, or, as he said,
+should feel the hot water at the same time. I don't quite understand
+exactly how, unless the pitcher has a large mouth, when it might be put
+in sideways.
+
+He told the reasons, which, being scientific, I cannot remember or
+understand.
+
+If Amanda had known about this, she might have saved a great deal of
+valuable glass and china. Though it has not always been from hot water,
+the breaking, for I often think she has not the water hot enough; but
+often from a whole tray-full sliding out of her hand, as she was coming
+up-stairs, and everything on it broke.
+
+But Dr. Murtrie said if she had learned more of the Laws of Physics she
+would not probably so often tip over the waiter.
+
+The trouble is, however, remembering at the right time. She might have
+known the law perfectly well, and forgotten it just on the moment, or
+her dress coming in the way may have prevented.
+
+Still, I should like very well myself to go to the Lectures on Physics.
+Perhaps I could find out something about scissors,--why it is they do
+always tumble down, and usually, though so heavy, without any noise, so
+that you do not know that they have fallen. I should say they had no
+law, because sometimes they are far under the sofa in one direction, or
+hidden behind the leg of the table in another, or perhaps not even on
+the floor, but buried in the groove at the back of the easy-chair, and
+you never find them till you have the chair covered again. I do feel
+always in the back of the chair now; but Amanda found mine, yesterday,
+in the groove of the sofa.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is possible Elizabeth Eliza may have taken the remaining sheets of
+her commonplace-book abroad with her. We have not been able to recover
+them.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING.
+
+
+Long ago Mrs. Peterkin had been afraid of the Mohammedans, and would
+have dreaded to travel among them; but since the little boys had taken
+lessons of the Turk, and she had become familiar with his costume and
+method of sitting, she had felt less fear of them as a nation.
+
+To be sure, the Turk had given but few lessons, as, soon after making
+his engagement, he had been obliged to go to New York to join a
+tobacconist's firm. Mr. Peterkin had not regretted his payment for
+instruction in advance; for the Turk had been very urbane in his
+manners, and had always assented to whatever the little boys or any of
+the family had said to him.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin had expressed a desire to see the famous Cleopatra's
+Needle which had been brought from Egypt. She had heard it was something
+gigantic for a needle, and it would be worth a journey to New York. She
+wondered at their bringing it such a distance, and would have supposed
+that some of Cleopatra's family would have objected to it if they were
+living now.
+
+Agamemnon said that was the truth; there was no one left to object; they
+were all mummies under ground, with such heavy pyramids over them that
+they would not easily rise to object.
+
+Mr. Peterkin feared that all the pyramids would be brought away in time.
+Agamemnon said there were a great many remaining in Egypt. Still, he
+thought it would be well to visit Egypt soon, before they were all
+brought away, and nothing but the sand left. Mrs. Peterkin said she
+would be almost as willing to travel to Egypt as to New York, and it
+would seem more worth while to go so far to see a great many than to go
+to New York only for one needle.
+
+"That would certainly be a needless expense," suggested Solomon John.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to see the Sphinx. Perhaps it would answer
+some of the family questions that troubled them day after day.
+
+Agamemnon felt it would be a great thing for the education of the little
+boys. If they could have begun with the Egyptian hieroglyphics before
+they had learned their alphabet, they would have begun at the right end.
+Perhaps it was not too late now to take them to Egypt, and let them
+begin upon its old learning. The little boys declared it was none too
+late. They could not say the alphabet backward now, and could never
+remember whether _u_ came before _v_; and the voyage would be
+a long one, and before they reached Egypt, very likely they would have
+forgotten all.
+
+It was about this voyage that Mrs. Peterkin had much doubt. What she was
+afraid of was getting in and out of the ships and boats. She was afraid
+of tumbling into the water between, when she left the wharf. Elizabeth
+Eliza agreed with her mother in this, and began to calculate how many
+times they would have to change between Boston and Egypt.
+
+There was the ferry-boat across to East Boston would make two changes;
+one more to get on board the steamer; then Liverpool--no, to land at
+Queenstown would make two more,--four, five changes; Liverpool, six.
+Solomon John brought the map, and they counted up. Dover, seven; Calais,
+eight; Marseilles, nine; Malta, if they landed, ten, eleven; and
+Alexandria, twelve changes.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin shuddered at the possibilities, not merely for herself,
+but for the family. She could fall in but once, but by the time they
+should reach Egypt, how many would be left out of a family of eight?
+Agamemnon began to count up the contingencies. Eight times twelve would
+make ninety-six chances (8 x 12 = 96). Mrs. Peterkin felt as if all
+might be swept off before the end could be reached.
+
+Solomon John said it was not usual to allow more than one chance in a
+hundred. People always said "one in a hundred," as though that were the
+usual thing expected. It was not at all likely that the whole family
+would be swept off.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was sure they would not want to lose one; they could
+hardly pick out which they could spare, she felt certain. Agamemnon
+declared there was no necessity for such risks. They might go directly
+by some vessel from Boston to Egypt.
+
+Solomon John thought they might give up Egypt, and content themselves
+with Rome. "All roads lead to Rome;" so it would not be difficult to
+find their way.
+
+But Mrs. Peterkin was afraid to go. She had heard you must do as the
+Romans did if you went to Rome; and there were some things she certainly
+should not like to do that they did. There was that brute who killed
+Caesar! And she should not object to the long voyage. It would give them
+time to think it all over.
+
+Mr. Peterkin thought they ought to have more practice in travelling, to
+accustom themselves to emergencies. It would be fatal to start on so
+long a voyage and to find they were not prepared. Why not make their
+proposed excursion to the cousins at Gooseberry Beach, which they had
+been planning all summer? There they could practise getting in and out
+of a boat, and accustom themselves to the air of the sea. To be sure,
+the cousins were just moving up from the seashore, but they could take
+down a basket of luncheon, in order to give no trouble, and they need
+not go into the house.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had learned by heart, early in the summer, the list of
+trains, as she was sure they would lose the slip their cousins had sent
+them; and you never could find the paper that had the trains in when you
+wanted it. They must take the 7 A.M. train into Boston in time to go
+across to the station for the Gooseberry train at 7.45, and they would
+have to return from Gooseberry Beach by a 3.30 train. The cousins would
+order the "barge" to meet them on their arrival, and to come for them
+at 3 P.M., in time for the return train, if they were informed the day
+before. Elizabeth Eliza wrote them a postal card, giving them the
+information that they would take the early train. The "barge" was the
+name of the omnibus that took passengers to and from the Gooseberry
+station. Mrs. Peterkin felt that its very name was propitious to this
+Egyptian undertaking.
+
+The day proved a fine one. On reaching Boston, Mrs. Peterkin and
+Elizabeth Eliza were put into a carriage with the luncheon-basket to
+drive directly to the station. Elizabeth Eliza was able to check the
+basket at the baggage-station, and to buy their "go-and-return" tickets
+before the arrival of the rest of the party, which appeared, however,
+some minutes before a quarter of eight. Mrs. Peterkin counted the little
+boys. All were there. This promised well for Egypt. But their joy was of
+short duration. On presenting their tickets at the gate of entrance,
+they were stopped. The Gooseberry train had gone at 7.35! The Mattapan
+train was now awaiting its passengers. Impossible! Elizabeth Eliza
+had repeated 7.45 every morning through the summer. It must be the
+Gooseberry train. But the conductor would not yield. If they wished to
+go to Mattapan they could go; if to Gooseberry, they must wait till the
+5 P.M. train.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was in despair. Their return train was 3.30; how could 5
+P.M. help them?
+
+Mr. Peterkin, with instant decision, proposed they should try something
+else. Why should not they take their luncheon-basket across some ferry?
+This would give them practice. The family hastily agreed to this. What
+could be better? They went to the baggage-office, but found their basket
+had gone in the 7.35 train! They had arrived in time, and could have
+gone too. "If we had only been checked!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. The
+baggage-master, showing a tender interest, suggested that there was a
+train for Plymouth at eight, which would take them within twelve miles
+of Gooseberry Beach, and they might find "a team" there to take them
+across. Solomon John and the little boys were delighted with the
+suggestion.
+
+"We could see Plymouth Rock," said Agamemnon.
+
+But hasty action would be necessary. Mr. Peterkin quickly procured
+tickets for Plymouth, and no official objected to their taking the 8
+A.M. train. They were all safely in the train. This had been a test
+expedition; and each of the party had taken something, to see what would
+be the proportion of things lost to those remembered. Mr. Peterkin had
+two umbrellas, Agamemnon an atlas and spyglass, and the little boys were
+taking down two cats in a basket. All were safe.
+
+"I am glad we have decided upon Plymouth," said Mr. Peterkin. "Before
+seeing the pyramids of Egypt we certainly ought to know something of
+Plymouth Rock. I should certainly be quite ashamed, when looking at
+their great obelisks, to confess that I had never seen our own Rock."
+
+The conductor was attracted by this interesting party. When Mr. Peterkin
+told him of their mistake of the morning, and that they were bound for
+Gooseberry Beach, he advised them to stop at Kingston, a station nearer
+the beach. They would have but four miles to drive, and a reduction
+could be effected on their tickets. The family demurred. Were they ready
+now to give up Plymouth? They would lose time in going there. Solomon
+John, too, suggested it would be better, chronologically, to visit
+Plymouth on their return from Egypt, after they had seen the earliest
+things.
+
+This decided them to stop at Kingston.
+
+But they found here no omnibus nor carriage to take them to Gooseberry.
+The station-master was eager to assist them, and went far and near in
+search of some sort of wagon. Hour after hour passed away, the little
+boys had shared their last peanut, and gloom was gathering over the
+family, when Solomon John came into the station to say there was a
+photographer's cart on the other side of the road. Would not this be a
+good chance to have their photographs taken for their friends before
+leaving for Egypt? The idea reanimated the whole party, and they made
+their way to the cart, and into it, as the door was open. There was,
+however, no photographer there.
+
+Agamemnon tried to remember what he had read of photography. As all the
+materials were there, he might take the family's picture. There would
+indeed be a difficulty in introducing his own. Solomon John suggested
+they might arrange the family group, leaving a place for him. Then, when
+all was ready, he could put the curtain over the box, take his place
+hastily, then pull away the curtain by means of a string. And Solomon
+John began to look around for a string while the little boys felt in
+their pockets.
+
+Agamemnon did not exactly see how they could get the curtain back.
+Mr. Peterkin thought this of little importance. They would all be glad
+to sit some time after travelling so long. And the longer they sat the
+better for the picture, and perhaps somebody would come along in time
+to put back the curtain. They began to arrange the group. Mr. and Mrs.
+Peterkin were placed in the middle, sitting down. Elizabeth Eliza stood
+behind them, and the little boys knelt in front with the basket of cats.
+Solomon John and Agamemnon were also to stand behind, Agamemnon leaning
+over his father's shoulder. Solomon John was still looking around for a
+string when the photographer himself appeared. He was much surprised to
+find a group all ready for him. He had gone off that morning for a short
+holiday, but was not unwilling to take the family, especially when he
+heard they were soon going to Egypt. He approved of the grouping made by
+the family, but suggested that their eyes should not all be fixed upon
+the same spot. Before the pictures were finished, the station-master
+came to announce that two carriages were found to take the party to
+Gooseberry Beach.
+
+"There is no hurry," said Mr. Peterkin, "Let the pictures be finished;
+they have made us wait, we can keep them waiting as long as we please."
+
+The result, indeed, was very satisfactory. The photographer pronounced
+it a remarkably fine group. Elizabeth Eliza's eyes were lifted to the
+heavens perhaps a little too high. It gave her a rapt expression not
+customary with her; but Mr. Peterkin thought she might look in that way
+in the presence of the Sphinx. It was necessary to have a number of
+copies, to satisfy all the friends left behind when they should go to
+Egypt; and it certainly would not be worth while to come again so great
+a distance for more.
+
+It was therefore a late hour when they left Kingston. It took some time
+to arrange the party in two carriages. Mr. Peterkin ought to be in one,
+Mrs. Peterkin in the other; but it was difficult to divide the little
+boys, as all wished to take charge of the cats. The drive, too, proved
+longer than was expected,--six miles instead of four.
+
+When they reached their cousin's door, the "barge" was already standing
+there.
+
+"It has brought our luncheon-basket!" exclaimed Solomon John.
+
+"I am glad of it," said Agamemnon, "for I feel hungry enough for it."
+
+He pulled out his watch. It was three o'clock!
+
+This was indeed the "barge," but it had come for their return. The
+Gooseberry cousins, much bewildered that the family did not arrive at
+the time expected, had forgotten to send to countermand it. And the
+"barge" driver, supposing the family had arrived by the other station,
+had taken occasion to bring up the lunch-basket, as it was addressed to
+the Gooseberry cousins. The cousins flocked out to meet them. "What had
+happened? What had delayed them? They were glad to see them at last."
+
+Mrs. Peterkin, when she understood the state of the case, insisted upon
+getting directly into the "barge" to return, although the driver said
+there would be a few moments to spare. Some of the cousins busied
+themselves in opening the luncheon-basket, and a part led the little
+boys and Agamemnon and Solomon John down upon the beach in front of the
+house; there would be a few moments for a glance at the sea. Indeed, the
+little boys ventured in their India-rubber boots to wade in a little
+way, as the tide was low. And Agamemnon and Solomon John walked to look
+at a boat that was drawn up on the beach, and got into it and out of it
+for practice, till they were all summoned back to the house.
+
+It was indeed time to go. The Gooseberry cousins had got out the
+luncheon, and had tried to persuade the family to spend the night. Mrs.
+Peterkin declared this would be impossible. They never had done such a
+thing. So they went off, eating their luncheon as they went, the little
+boys each with a sandwich in one hand and a piece of cake in the other.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was sure they should miss the train or lose some of the
+party. No, it was a great success; for all, and more than all, were
+found in the train: slung over the arm of one of the little boys was
+found the basket containing the cats. They were to have left the cats,
+but in their haste had brought them away again.
+
+This discovery was made in a search for the tickets which Elizabeth
+Eliza had bought, early in the morning, to go and return; they were
+needed now for return. She was sure she had given them to her father.
+Mrs. Peterkin supposed that Mr. Peterkin must have changed them for the
+Kingston tickets. The little boys felt in their pockets, Agamemnon and
+Solomon John in theirs. In the excitement, Mrs. Peterkin insisted upon
+giving up her copy of their new photograph, and could not be satisfied
+till the conductor had punched it. At last the tickets were found in the
+outer lappet of Elizabeth Eliza's hand-bag. She had looked for them in
+the inner part.
+
+It was after this that Mr. Peterkin ventured to pronounce the whole
+expedition a success. To be sure, they had not passed the day at the
+beach, and had scarcely seen their cousins; but their object had been
+to practise travelling, and surely they had been travelling all day.
+Elizabeth Eliza had seen the sea, or thought she had. She was not
+sure--she had been so busy explaining to the cousins and showing the
+photographs. Agamemnon was sorry she had not walked with them to the
+beach, and tried getting in and out of the boat. Elizabeth Eliza
+regretted this. Of course it was not the same as getting into a boat on
+the sea, where it would be wobbling more, but the step must have been
+higher from the sand. Solomon John said there was some difficulty. He
+had jumped in, but was obliged to take hold of the side in getting out.
+
+The little boys were much encouraged by their wade into the tide. They
+had been a little frightened at first when the splash came, but the
+tide had been low. On the whole, Mr. Peterkin continued, things had gone
+well. Even the bringing back of the cats might be considered a good
+omen. Cats were worshipped in Egypt, and they ought not to have tried
+to part with them. He was glad they had brought the cats. They gave the
+little boys an interest in feeding them while they were waiting at the
+Kingston station.
+
+Their adventures were not quite over, as the station was crowded when
+they reached Boston. A military company had arrived from the South and
+was received by a procession. A number of distinguished guests also were
+expected, and the Peterkins found it difficult to procure a carriage.
+They had determined to take a carriage, so that they might be sure to
+reach their own evening train in season.
+
+At last Mr. Peterkin discovered one that was empty, standing at the end
+of a long line. There would be room for Mrs. Peterkin, Elizabeth Eliza,
+himself, and the little boys, and Agamemnon and Solomon John agreed to
+walk behind in order to keep the carriage in sight. But they were much
+disturbed when they found they were going at so slow a pace. Mr. Peterkin
+called to the coachman in vain. He soon found that they had fallen into
+the line of the procession, and the coachman was driving slowly on
+behind the other carriages. In vain Mr. Peterkin tried to attract the
+driver's attention. He put his head out of one window after another, but
+only to receive the cheers of the populace ranged along the sidewalk.
+He opened the window behind the coachman and pulled his coat. But the
+cheering was so loud that he could not make himself heard. He tried to
+motion to the coachman to turn down one of the side streets, but in
+answer the driver pointed out with his whip the crowds of people. Mr.
+Peterkin, indeed, saw it would be impossible to make their way through
+the throng that filled every side street which they crossed. Mrs.
+Peterkin looked out of the back window for Agamemnon and Solomon John.
+They were walking side by side, behind the carriage, taking off their
+hats, and bowing to the people cheering on either side.
+
+"They are at the head of a long row of men, walking two by two," said
+Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"They are part of the procession," said Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"We are part of the procession," Mr. Peterkin answered.
+
+"I rather like it," said Mrs. Peterkin, with a calm smile, as she looked
+out of the window and bowed in answer to a cheer.
+
+"Where do you suppose we shall go?" asked Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"I have often wondered what became of a procession," said Mr. Peterkin.
+"They are always going somewhere, but I never could tell where they went
+to."
+
+"We shall find out!" exclaimed the little boys, who were filled with
+delight, looking now out of one window, now out of the other.
+
+"Perhaps we shall go to the armory," said one.
+
+This alarmed Mrs. Peterkin. Sounds of martial music were now heard, and
+the noise of the crowd grew louder. "I think you ought to ask where we
+are going," she said to Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"It is not for us to decide," he answered calmly. "They have taken us
+into the procession. I suppose they will show us the principal streets,
+and will then leave us at our station."
+
+This, indeed, seemed to be the plan. For two hours more the Peterkins,
+in their carriage, and Agamemnon and Solomon John, afoot, followed on.
+Mrs. Peterkin looked out upon rows and rows of cheering people. The
+little boys waved their caps.
+
+"It begins to be a little monotonous," said Mrs. Peterkin, at last.
+
+"I am afraid we have missed all the trains," said Elizabeth Eliza,
+gloomily. But Mr. Peterkin's faith held to the last, and was rewarded.
+The carriage reached the square in which stood the railroad station. Mr.
+Peterkin again seized the lapels of the coachman's coat and pointed to
+the station, and he was able to turn his horses in that direction. As
+they left the crowd, they received a parting cheer. It was with
+difficulty that Agamemnon and Solomon John broke from the ranks.
+
+"That was a magnificent reception!" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin, wiping his
+brow, after paying the coachman twice his fee. But Elizabeth Eliza said,--
+
+"But we have lost all the trains, I am sure."
+
+They had lost all but one. It was the last.
+
+"And we have lost the cats!" the little boys suddenly exclaimed. But
+Mrs. Peterkin would not allow them to turn back in search of them.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR.
+
+
+It was, to be sure, a change of plan to determine to go to Grandfather's
+for a maple-sugaring instead of going to Egypt! But it seemed best.
+Egypt was not given up,--only postponed. "It has lasted so many
+centuries," sighed Mr. Peterkin, "that I suppose it will not crumble
+much in one summer more."
+
+The Peterkins had determined to start for Egypt in June, and Elizabeth
+Eliza had engaged her dressmaker for January; but after all their plans
+were made, they were told that June was the worst month of all to go to
+Egypt in,--that they would arrive in midsummer, and find the climate
+altogether too hot,--that people who were not used to it died of it.
+Nobody thought of going to Egypt in summer; on the contrary, everybody
+came away. And what was worse, Agamemnon learned that not only the
+summers were unbearably hot, but there really was no Egypt in
+summer,--nothing to speak of,--nothing but water; for there was a great
+inundation of the river Nile every summer, which completely covered the
+country, and it would be difficult to get about except in boats.
+
+Mr. Peterkin remembered he had heard something of the sort, but he did
+not suppose it had been kept up with the modern improvements.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin felt that the thing must be very much exaggerated. She
+could not believe the whole country would be covered, or that everybody
+would leave; as summer was surely the usual time for travel, there must
+be strangers there, even if the natives left. She would not be sorry if
+there were fewer of the savages. As for the boats, she supposed after
+their long voyage they would all be used to going about in boats; and
+she had thought seriously of practising, by getting in and out of the
+rocking-chair from the sofa.
+
+The family, however, wrote to the lady from Philadelphia, who had
+travelled in Egypt, and whose husband knew everything about Egypt that
+could be known,--that is, everything that had already been dug up,
+though he could only guess at what might be brought to light next.
+
+The result was a very earnest recommendation not to leave for Egypt till
+the autumn. Travellers did not usually reach there before December,
+though October might be pleasant on account of the fresh dates.
+
+So the Egypt plan was reluctantly postponed; and, to make amends for the
+disappointment to the little boys, an excursion for maple syrup was
+proposed instead.
+
+Mr. Peterkin considered it almost a necessity. They ought to acquaint
+themselves with the manufactures of their own new country before
+studying those of the oldest in the world. He had been inquiring into
+the products of Egypt at the present time, and had found sugar to be one
+of their staples. They ought, then, to understand the American methods
+and compare them with those of Egypt. It would be a pretty attention,
+indeed, to carry some of the maple sugar to the principal dignitaries
+of Egypt.
+
+But the difficulties in arranging an excursion proved almost as great
+as for going to Egypt. Sugar-making could not come off until it was
+warm enough for the sun to set the sap stirring. On the other hand,
+it must be cold enough for snow, as you could only reach the woods on
+snow-sleds. Now, if there were sun enough for the sap to rise, it would
+melt the snow; and if it were cold enough for sledding, it must be too
+cold for the syrup. There seemed an impossibility about the whole thing.
+The little boys, however, said there always had been maple sugar every
+spring,--they had eaten it; why shouldn't there be this spring?
+
+Elizabeth Eliza insisted gloomily that this was probably old sugar they
+had eaten,--you never could tell in the shops.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin thought there must be fresh sugar occasionally, as the old
+would have been eaten up. She felt the same about chickens. She never
+could understand why there were only the old, tough ones in the market,
+when there were certainly fresh young broods to be seen around the
+farm-houses every year. She supposed the market-men had begun with the
+old, tough fowls, and so they had to go on so. She wished they had begun
+the other way; and she had done her best to have the family eat up the
+old fowls, hoping they might, some day, get down to the young ones.
+
+As to the uncertainty about the weather, she suggested they should go to
+Grandfather's the day before. But how can you go the day before, when
+you don't yet know the day?
+
+All were much delighted, therefore, when Hiram appeared with the
+wood-sled, one evening, to take them, as early as possible the next
+day, to their grandfather's. He reported that the sap had started,
+the kettles had been on some time, there had been a light snow for
+sleighing, and to-morrow promised to be a fine day. It was decided
+that he should take the little boys and Elizabeth Eliza early, in the
+wood-sled; the others would follow later, in the carry-all.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin thought it would be safer to have some of the party go on
+wheels, in case of a general thaw the next day.
+
+A brilliant sun awoke them in the morning. The wood-sled was filled with
+hay, to make it warm and comfortable, and an arm-chair was tied in for
+Elizabeth Eliza. But she was obliged to go first to visit the secretary
+of the Circumambient Society, to explain that she should not be present
+at their evening meeting. One of the rules of this society was to take
+always a winding road when going upon society business, as the word
+"circumambient" means "compassing about." It was one of its laws to copy
+Nature as far as possible, and a straight line is never seen in Nature.
+Therefore she could not send a direct note to say she should not be
+present; she could only hint it in general conversation with the
+secretary; and she was obliged to take a roundabout way to reach the
+secretary's house, where the little boys called for her in her
+wood-sled.
+
+What was her surprise to find eight little boys instead of three! In
+passing the school-house they had picked up five of their friends, who
+had reached the school door a full hour before the time. Elizabeth Eliza
+thought they ought to inquire if their parents would be willing they
+should go, as they all expected to spend the night at Grandfather's.
+Hiram thought it would require too much time to stop for the consent of
+ten parents; if the sun kept on at this rate, the snow would be gone
+before they should reach the woods. But the little boys said most of the
+little boys lived in a row, and Elizabeth Eliza felt she ought not to
+take the boys away for all night without their parents' knowledge. The
+consent of two mothers and two fathers was gained, and Mr. Dobson was
+met in the street, who said he would tell the other mother. But at each
+place they were obliged to stop for additional tippets and great-coats
+and India-rubber boots for the little boys. At the Harrimans', too, the
+Harriman girls insisted on dressing up the wood-sled with evergreens,
+and made one of the boys bring their last Christmas-tree, that was
+leaning up against the barn, to set it up in the back of the sled, over
+Elizabeth Eliza. All this made considerable delay; and when they reached
+the high-road again, the snow was indeed fast melting. Elizabeth Eliza
+was inclined to turn back, but Hiram said they would find the sleighing
+better farther up among the hills. The armchair joggled about a good
+deal, and the Christmas-tree creaked behind her; and Hiram was obliged
+to stop occasionally and tie in the chair and the tree more firmly.
+
+But the warm sun was very pleasant, the eight little boys were very
+lively, and the sleigh-bells jingled gayly as they went on.
+
+It was so late when they reached the wood-road that Hiram decided they
+had better not go up the hill to their grandfather's, but turn off into
+the woods.
+
+"Your grandfather will be there by this time," he declared.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was afraid the carry-all would miss them, and thought
+they had better wait. Hiram did not like to wait longer, and proposed
+that one or two of the little boys should stop to show the way. But it
+was so difficult to decide which little boys should stay that he gave
+it up. Even to draw lots would take time. So he explained that there
+was a lunch hidden somewhere in the straw; and the little boys thought
+it an admirable time to look it up, and it was decided to stop in the
+sun at the corner of the road. Elizabeth Eliza felt a little jounced
+in the armchair, and was glad of a rest; and the little boys soon
+discovered an ample lunch,--just what might have been expected from
+Grandfather's,--apple-pie and doughnuts, and plenty of them! "Lucky
+we brought so many little boys!" they exclaimed.
+
+Hiram, however, began to grow impatient. "There 'll be no snow left," he
+exclaimed, "and no afternoon for the syrup!"
+
+But far in the distance the Peterkin carry-all was seen slowly
+approaching through the snow, Solomon John waving a red handkerchief.
+The little boys waved back, and Hiram ventured to enter upon the
+wood-road, but at a slow pace, as Elizabeth Eliza still feared that by
+some accident the family might miss them.
+
+It was with difficulty that the carry-all followed in the deep but soft
+snow, in among the trunks of the trees and over piles of leaves hidden
+in the snow. They reached at last the edge of a meadow; and on the high
+bank above it stood a row of maples, a little shanty by the side, a slow
+smoke proceeding from its chimney. The little boys screamed with
+delight, but there was no reply. Nobody there!
+
+"The folks all gone!" exclaimed Hiram; "then we must be late." And he
+proceeded to pull out a large silver watch from a side pocket. It was so
+large that he seldom was at the pains to pull it out, as it took time;
+but when he had succeeded at last, and looked at it, he started.
+
+"Late, indeed! It is four o'clock, and we were to have been here by
+eleven; they have given you up."
+
+The little boys wanted to force in the door; but Hiram said it was no
+use,--they wouldn't understand what to do, and he should have to see to
+the horses,--and it was too late, and it was likely they had carried off
+all the syrup. But he thought a minute, as they all stood in silence and
+gloom; and then he guessed they might find some sugar at Deacon Spear's,
+close by, on the back road, and that would be better than nothing. Mrs.
+Peterkin was pretty cold, and glad not to wait in the darkening wood; so
+the eight little boys walked through the wood-path, Hiram leading the
+way; and slowly the carry-all followed.
+
+They reached Deacon Spear's at length; but only Mrs. Spear was at home.
+She was very deaf, but could explain that the family had taken all their
+syrup to the annual festival.
+
+"We might go to the festival," exclaimed the little boys.
+
+"It would be very well," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to eat our fresh syrup
+there."
+
+But Mrs. Spear could not tell where the festival was to be, as she had
+not heard; perhaps they might know at Squire Ramsay's. Squire Ramsay's
+was on their way to Grandfather's, so they stopped there; but they
+learned that the "Squire's folks had all gone with their syrup to the
+festival," but the man who was chopping wood did not know where the
+festival was to be.
+
+"They 'll know at your grandfather's," said Mrs. Peterkin, from the
+carry-all.
+
+"Yes, go on to your grandfather's," advised Mr. Peterkin, "for I think
+I felt a drop of rain." So they made the best of their way to
+Grandfather's.
+
+At the moment they reached the door of the house, a party of young
+people whom Elizabeth Eliza knew came by in sleighs. She had met them
+all when visiting at her grandfather's.
+
+"Come along with us," they shouted; "we are all going down to the sugar
+festival."
+
+"That is what we have come for," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"Where is it?" asked Solomon John.
+
+"It is down your way," was the reply.
+
+"It is in your own New Hall," said another. "We have sent down all our
+syrup. The Spears and Ramsays and Doolittles have gone on with theirs.
+No time to stop; there's good sleighing on the old road."
+
+There was a little consultation with the grandfather. Hiram said that
+he could take them back with the wood-sled, when he heard there was
+sleighing on the old road; and it was decided that the whole party
+should go in the wood-sled, with the exception of Mr. Peterkin, who
+would follow on with the carry-all. Mrs. Peterkin would take the
+arm-chair, and cushions were put in for Elizabeth Eliza, and more
+apple-pie for all. No more drops of rain appeared, though the clouds
+were thickening over the setting sun.
+
+"All the way back again," sighed Mrs. Peterkin, "when we might have
+stayed at home all day, and gone quietly out to the New Hall!" But
+the little boys thought the sledding all day was great fun,--and the
+apple-pie! "And we did see the kettle through the cracks of the shanty!"
+
+"It is odd the festival should be held at the New Hall," said Elizabeth
+Eliza; "for the secretary did say something about the society meeting
+there to-night, being so far from the centre of the town."
+
+This hall was so called because it was once a new hall, built to be used
+for lectures, assemblies, and entertainments of this sort, for the
+convenience of the inhabitants who had collected about some flourishing
+factories.
+
+"You can go to your own Circumambient Society, then!" exclaimed Solomon
+John.
+
+"And in a truly circumambient manner," said Agamemnon; and he explained
+to the little boys that they could now understand the full meaning of
+the word, for surely Elizabeth Eliza had taken the most circumambient
+way of reaching the place by coming away from it.
+
+"We little thought, when we passed it early this morning," said
+Elizabeth Eliza, "that we should come back to it for our maple sugar."
+
+"It is odd the secretary did not tell you they were going to join the
+sugar festival," said Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"It is one of the rules of the society," said Elizabeth Eliza, "that the
+secretary never tells anything directly. She only hinted at the plan of
+the New Hall."
+
+"I don't see how you can find enough to talk about," said Solomon John.
+
+"We can tell of things that never have happened," said Elizabeth Eliza,
+"or that are not likely to happen, and wonder what would have happened
+if they had happened."
+
+They arrived at the festival at last, but very late, and glad to find a
+place that was warm. There was a stove at each end of the hall, and an
+encouraging sound and smell from the simmering syrup. There were long
+tables down the hall, on which were placed, in a row, first a bowl of
+snow, then a pile of saucers and spoons, then a plate of pickles,
+intended to whet the appetite for more syrup; another of bread, then
+another bowl of snow, and so on. Hot syrup was to be poured on the snow
+and eaten as candy.
+
+The Peterkin family were received at this late hour with a wild
+enthusiasm. Elizabeth Eliza was an especial heroine, and was made
+directly the president of the evening. Everybody said that she had best
+earned the distinction; for had she not come to the meeting by the
+longest way possible, by going away from it? The secretary declared that
+the principles of the society had been completely carried out. She had
+always believed that if left to itself, information would spread itself
+in a natural instead of a forced way.
+
+"Now, in this case, if I had written twenty-nine notifications to this
+meeting, I should have wasted just so much of my time. But the
+information has disseminated naturally. Ann Maria said what a good plan
+it would be to have the Circumambients go to the sugaring at the New
+Hall. Everybody said it would be a good plan. Elizabeth Eliza came and
+spoke of the sugaring, and I spoke of the New Hall."
+
+"But if you had told Elizabeth Eliza that all the maple syrup was to be
+brought here--" began Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"We should have lost our excursion for maple syrup," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+Later, as they reached home in the carry-all (Hiram having gone back
+with the wood-sled), Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, after leaving little boys at
+their homes all along the route, found none of their own to get out at
+their own door. They must have joined Elizabeth Eliza, Agamemnon, and
+Solomon John in taking a circuitous route home with the rest of the
+Circumambients.
+
+"The little boys will not be at home till midnight," said Mrs. Peterkin,
+anxiously. "I do think this is carrying the thing too far, after such a
+day!"
+
+"Elizabeth Eliza will feel that she has acted up to the principles of
+the society," said Mr. Peterkin, "and we have done our best; for, as the
+little boys said, 'we did see the kettle.'"
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE PETERKINS "AT HOME."
+
+
+Might not something be done by way of farewell before leaving for Egypt?
+They did not want to give another tea-party, and could not get in all at
+dinner. They had had charades and a picnic. Elizabeth Eliza wished for
+something unusual, that should be remembered after they had left for
+Egypt. Why should it not be a fancy ball? There never had been one in
+the place.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin hesitated. Perhaps for that reason they ought not to
+attempt it. She liked to have things that other people had. She however
+objected most to the "ball" part. She could indeed still dance a minuet,
+but she was not sure she could get on in the "Boston dip."
+
+The little boys said they would like the "fancy" part and "dressing up."
+They remembered their delight when they browned their faces for Hindus,
+at their charades, just for a few minutes; and what fun it would be to
+wear their costumes through a whole evening! Mrs. Peterkin shook her
+head; it was days and days before the brown had washed out of their
+complexions.
+
+Still, she too was interested in the "dressing up." If they should wear
+costumes, they could make them of things that might be left behind, that
+they had done wearing, if they could only think of the right kind of
+things.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin, indeed, had already packed up, although they were not to
+leave for two months, for she did not want to be hurried at the last.
+She and Elizabeth Eliza went on different principles in packing.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had been told that you really needed very little to
+travel with,--merely your travelling dress and a black silk. Mrs.
+Peterkin, on the contrary, had heard it was best to take everything you
+had, and then you need not spend your time shopping in Paris. So they
+had decided upon adopting both ways. Mrs. Peterkin was to take her
+"everything," and already had all the shoes and stockings she should
+need for a year or two. Elizabeth Eliza, on the other hand, prepared a
+small valise. She consoled herself with the thought that if she should
+meet anything that would not go into it, she could put it in one of her
+mother's trunks.
+
+It was resolved to give the fancy ball.
+
+Mr. Peterkin early determined upon a character. He decided to be Julius
+Caesar. He had a bald place on the top of his head, which he was told
+resembled that of the great Roman; and he concluded that the dress would
+be a simple one to get up, requiring only a sheet for a toga.
+
+Agamemnon was inclined to take the part which his own name represented,
+and he looked up the costume of the Greek king of men. But he was
+dissatisfied with the representation given of him in Dr. Schliemann's
+"Mykenae." There was a picture of Agamemnon's mask, but very much
+battered. He might get a mask made in that pattern, indeed, and the
+little boys were delighted with the idea of battering it. Agamemnon
+would like to wear a mask, then he would have no trouble in keeping up
+his expression. But Elizabeth Eliza objected to the picture in Dr.
+Schliemann's book; she did not like it for Agamemnon,--it was too
+slanting in the eyes. So it was decided he should take the part of Nick
+Bottom, in "Midsummer Night's Dream." He could then wear the ass's head,
+which would have the same advantage as a mask, and would conceal his own
+face entirely. Then he could be making up any face he pleased in the
+ass's head, and would look like an ass without any difficulty, while his
+feet would show he was not one. Solomon John thought that they might
+make an ass's head if they could get a pattern, or could see the real
+animal and form an idea of the shape. Barnum's Circus would be along in
+a few weeks, and they could go on purpose to study the donkeys, as there
+usually was more than one donkey in the circus. Agamemnon, however, in
+going with a friend to a costumer's in Boston, found an ass's head
+already made.
+
+The little boys found in an illustrated paper an accurate description
+of the Hindu snake-charmer's costume, and were so successful in their
+practice of shades of brown for the complexion, that Solomon John
+decided to take the part of Othello, and use some of their staining
+fluid.
+
+There was some discussion as to consulting the lady from Philadelphia,
+who was in town.
+
+Solomon John thought they ought to practise getting on by themselves,
+for soon the Atlantic would lie between her and them. Mrs. Peterkin
+thought they could telegraph. Elizabeth Eliza wanted to submit to her
+two or three questions about the supper, and whether, if her mother were
+Queen Elizabeth, they could have Chinese lanterns. Was China invented at
+that time? Agamemnon was sure China was one of the oldest countries in
+the world and did exist, though perhaps Queen Elizabeth did not know it.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was relieved to find that the lady from Philadelphia
+thought the question not important. It would be impossible to have
+everything in the house to correspond with all the different characters,
+unless they selected some period to represent, such as the age of Queen
+Elizabeth. Of course, Elizabeth Eliza would not wish to do this when her
+father was to be Julius Caesar.
+
+The lady from Philadelphia advised Mrs. Peterkin to send for Jones the
+"caterer" to take charge of the supper. But his first question staggered
+her. How many did she expect?
+
+They had not the slightest idea. They had sent invitations to everybody.
+The little boys proposed getting the directory of the place, and marking
+out the people they didn't know and counting up the rest. But even if
+this would give the number of invitations, it would not show how many
+would accept; and then there was no such directory. They could not
+expect answers, as their invitations were cards with "At Home" on them.
+One answer had come from a lady, that she too would be "at home" with
+rheumatism. So they only knew there was one person who would not come.
+Elizabeth Eliza had sent in Circumambient ways to all the members of
+that society,--by the little boys, for instance, who were sure to stop
+at the base-ball grounds, or somewhere, so a note was always delayed by
+them. One Circumambient note she sent by mail, purposely omitting the
+"Mass.," so that it went to the Dead-Letter Office, and came back six
+weeks after the party.
+
+But the Peterkin family were not alone in commotion. The whole town was
+in excitement, for "everybody" had been invited. Ann Maria Bromwick
+had a book of costumes that she lent to a few friends, and everybody
+borrowed dresses or lent them, or went into town to the costumer's.
+Weeks passed in preparation. "What are you going to wear?" was the only
+question exchanged; and nobody answered, as nobody would tell.
+
+At length the evening came,--a beautiful night in late summer, warm
+enough to have had the party out-of-doors; but the whole house was
+lighted up and thrown open, and Chinese lanterns hung in the portico and
+on the pillars of the piazzas.
+
+At an early hour the Peterkins were arrayed in their costumes. The
+little boys had their legs and arms and faces browned early in the day,
+and wore dazzlingly white full trousers and white turbans.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had prepared a dress as Queen Elizabeth; but Solomon
+John was desirous that she should be Desdemona, and she gave up her
+costume to her mother. Mrs. Peterkin therefore wore a red wig which Ann
+Maria had found at a costumer's, a high ruff, and an old-fashioned
+brocade. She was not sure that it was proper for Queen Elizabeth to wear
+spectacles; but Queen Elizabeth must have been old enough, as she lived
+to be seventy. As for Elizabeth Eliza, in recalling the fact that
+Desdemona was smothered by pillows, she was so impressed by it that she
+decided she could wear the costume of a sheet-and-pillow-case party. So
+she wore a white figured silk that had been her mother's wedding-dress,
+and over it draped a sheet as a large mantle, and put a pillow-case upon
+her head, and could represent Desdemona not quite smothered. But Solomon
+John wished to carry out the whole scene at the end.
+
+As they stood together, all ready to receive, in the parlor at the
+appointed hour, Mr. Peterkin suddenly exclaimed,--
+
+"This will never do! We are not the Peterkins,--we are distinguished
+guests! We cannot receive."
+
+"We shall have to give up the party," said Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"Or our costumes," groaned Agamemnon from his ass's head.
+
+"We must go out, and come in as guests," said Elizabeth Eliza, leading
+the way to a back door, for guests were already thronging in, and up
+the front stairs. They passed out by a piazza, through the hedge of
+hollyhocks, toward the front of the house. Through the side windows of
+the library they could see the company pouring in. The black attendant
+was showing them upstairs; some were coming down, in doubt whether to
+enter the parlors, as no one was there. The wide middle entrance hall
+was lighted brilliantly; so were the parlors on one side and the library
+on the other.
+
+But nobody was there to receive! A flock of guests was
+assembling,--peasant girls, Italian, German, and Norman; Turks, Greeks,
+Persians, fish-wives, brigands, chocolate-women, Lady Washington,
+Penelope, Red Riding-hood, Joan of Arc, nuns, Amy Robsart, Leicester,
+two or three Mary Stuarts, Neapolitan fisher-boys, pirates of Penzance
+and elsewhere,--all lingering, some on the stairs, some going up, some
+coming down.
+
+Charles I. without his head was entering the front door (a short
+gentleman, with a broad ruff drawn neatly together on top of his own
+head, which was concealed in his doublet below).
+
+Three Hindu snake-charmers leaped wildly in and out among the throng,
+flinging about dark, crooked sticks for snakes.
+
+There began to be a strange, deserted air about the house. Nobody knew
+what to do, where to go!
+
+"Can anything have happened to the family?"
+
+"Have they gone to Egypt?" whispered one.
+
+No ushers came to show them in. A shudder ran through the whole
+assembly, the house seemed so uninhabited; and some of the guests were
+inclined to go away. The Peterkins saw it all through the long
+library-windows.
+
+"What shall we do?" said Mr. Peterkin. "We have said _we_ should
+be 'At Home.'"
+
+"And here we are, all out-of-doors among the hollyhocks," said Elizabeth
+Eliza.
+
+"There are no Peterkins to 'receive,'" said Mr. Peterkin, gloomily.
+
+"We might go in and change our costumes," said Mrs. Peterkin, who
+already found her Elizabethan ruff somewhat stiff; "but, alas! I could
+not get at my best dress."
+
+"The company is filling all the upper rooms," said Elizabeth Eliza; "we
+cannot go back."
+
+At this moment the little boys returned from the front door, and in a
+subdued whisper explained that the lady from Philadelphia was arriving.
+
+"Oh, bring her here!" said Mrs. Peterkin. And Solomon John hastened to
+meet her.
+
+She came, to find a strange group half lighted by the Chinese lanterns.
+Mr. Peterkin, in his white toga, with a green wreath upon his head, came
+forward to address her in a noble manner, while she was terrified by the
+appearance of Agamemnon's ass's head, half hidden among the leaves.
+
+"What shall we do?" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin. "There are no Peterkins;
+yet we have sent cards to everybody that they are 'At Home'!"
+
+The lady from Philadelphia, who had been allowed to come without
+costume, considered for a moment. She looked through the windows to the
+seething mass now crowding the entrance hall. The Hindu snake-charmers
+gambolled about her.
+
+"_We_ will receive as the Peterkin family!" she exclaimed. She
+inquired for a cap of Mrs. Peterkin's, with a purple satin bow, such as
+she had worn that very morning. Amanda was found by a Hindu, and sent
+for it and for a purple cross-over shawl that Mrs. Peterkin was wont to
+wear. The daughters of the lady from Philadelphia put on some hats of
+the little boys and their India-rubber boots. Hastily they went in
+through the back door and presented themselves, just as some of the
+wavering guests had decided to leave the house, it seeming so quiet
+and sepulchral.
+
+The crowd now flocked into the parlors. The Peterkins themselves left
+the hollyhocks and joined the company that was entering; Mr. Peterkin,
+as Julius Caesar, leading in Mrs. Peterkin, as Queen Elizabeth. Mrs.
+Peterkin hardly knew what to do, as she passed the parlor door; for one
+of the Osbornes, as Sir Walter Raleigh, flung a velvet cloak before
+her. She was uncertain whether she ought to step on it, especially as
+she discovered at that moment that she had forgotten to take off her
+rubber overshoes, which she had put on to go through the garden. But
+as she stood hesitating, the lady from Philadelphia, as Mrs. Peterkin,
+beckoned her forward, and she walked over the ruby velvet as though it
+were a door-mat.
+
+For another surprise stunned her,--there were three Mrs. Peterkins! Not
+only Mrs. Bromwick, but their opposite neighbor, had induced Amanda to
+take dresses of Mrs. Peterkin's from the top of the trunks, and had come
+in at the same moment with the lady from Philadelphia, ready to receive.
+She stood in the middle of the bow-window at the back of the room, the
+two others in the corners. Ann Maria Bromwick had the part of Elizabeth
+Eliza, and Agamemnon too was represented; and there were many sets of
+"little boys" in India-rubber boots, going in and out with the Hindu
+snake-charmers.
+
+Mr. Peterkin had studied up his Latin grammar a little, in preparation
+for his part of Julius Caesar. Agamemnon had reminded him that it was
+unnecessary, as Julius Caesar in Shakspeare spoke in English. Still he
+now found himself using with wonderful ease Latin phrases such as "E
+pluribus unum," "lapsus linguae," and "sine qua non," where they seemed
+to be appropriate.
+
+Solomon John looked well as Othello, although by some he was mistaken
+for an older snake-charmer, with his brown complexion, glaring white
+trousers, and white shirt. He wore a white lawn turban that had belonged
+to his great-grandmother. His part, however, was more understood when he
+was with Elizabeth Eliza as Desdemona; for they occasionally formed a
+tableau, in which he pulled the pillow-case completely over her head.
+
+Agamemnon was greeted with applause as Nick Bottom. He sang the song of
+the "ousel cock," but he could not make himself heard. At last he found
+a "Titania" who listened to him.
+
+But none of the company attempted to carry out the parts represented by
+their costumes. Charles I. soon conversed with Oliver Cromwell and with
+the different Mary Stuarts, who chatted gayly, as though executions were
+every-day occurrences.
+
+At first there was a little awkwardness. Nuns stood as quiet as if in
+their convent cells, and brave brigands hid themselves behind the doors;
+but as the different guests began to surprise each other, the sounds of
+laughter and talking increased. Every new-comer was led up to each
+several Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+Then came a great surprise,--a band of music sounded from the piazza.
+Some of the neighbors had sent in the town band, as a farewell tribute.
+This added to the excitement of the occasion. Strains of dance-music
+were heard, and dancing was begun. Sir Walter Raleigh led out Penelope,
+and Red Riding-hood without fear took the arm of the fiercest brigand
+for a round dance.
+
+The various groups wandered in and out. Elizabeth Eliza studied the
+costumes of her friends, and wished she had tried each one of them. The
+members of the Circumambient Society agreed that it would be always well
+to wear costumes at their meetings. As the principles of the society
+enforced a sort of uncertainty, if you always went in a different
+costume you would never have to keep up your own character. Elizabeth
+Eliza thought she should enjoy this. She had all her life been troubled
+with uncertainties and questions as to her own part of "Elizabeth
+Eliza," wondering always if she were doing the right thing. It did not
+seem to her that other people had such a bother. Perhaps they had
+simpler parts. They always seemed to know when to speak and when to
+be silent, while she was always puzzled as to what she should do as
+Elizabeth Eliza. Now, behind her pillow-case, she could look on and do
+nothing; all that was expected of her was to be smothered now and then.
+She breathed freely and enjoyed herself, because for the evening she
+could forget the difficult role of Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was bewildered. She thought it a good occasion to study
+how Mrs. Peterkin should act; but there were three Mrs. Peterkins. She
+found herself gazing first at one, then at another. Often she was
+herself called Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+[Illustration: The ass's head proved hot and heavy, and Agamemnon was
+forced to hang it over his arm.]
+
+At supper-time the bewilderment increased. She was led in by the Earl
+of Leicester, as principal guest. Yet it was to her own dining-room,
+and she recognized her own forks and spoons among the borrowed ones,
+although the china was different (because their own set was not large
+enough to go round for so much company). It was all very confusing. The
+dance-music floated through the air. Three Mrs. Peterkins hovered before
+her, and two Agamemnons; for the ass's head proved hot and heavy, and
+Agamemnon was forced to hang it over his arm as he offered coffee to
+Titania. There seemed to be two Elizabeth Elizas, for Elizabeth Eliza
+had thrown back her pillow-case in order to eat her fruit-ice. Mr.
+Peterkin was wondering how Julius Caesar would have managed to eat
+his salad with his fork, before forks were invented, and then he fell
+into a fit of abstraction, planning to say "Vale" to the guests as they
+left, but anxious that the word should not slip out before the time.
+Eight little boys and three Hindu snake-charmers were eating copiously
+of frozen pudding. Two Joans of Arc were talking to Charles I., who had
+found his head. All things seemed double to Mrs. Peterkin as they
+floated before her.
+
+"Was she eating her own supper or somebody's else? Were they Peterkins,
+or were they not?"
+
+Strains of dance-music sounded from the library. Yes, they were giving a
+fancy ball! The Peterkins were "At Home" for the last time before
+leaving for Egypt!
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT.
+
+
+The family had taken passage in the new line for Bordeaux. They supposed
+they had; but would they ever reach the vessel in New York? The last
+moments were terrific. In spite of all their careful arrangements, their
+planning and packing of the last year, it seemed, after all, as if
+everything were left for the very last day. There were presents for the
+family to be packed, six steamer-bags for Mrs. Peterkin, half a dozen
+satchels of salts-bottles for Elizabeth Eliza, Apollinaris water,
+lunch-baskets. All these must be disposed of.
+
+On the very last day Elizabeth Eliza went into Boston to buy a bird, as
+she had been told she would be less likely to be sea-sick if she had a
+bird in a cage in her stateroom. Both she and her mother disliked the
+singing of caged birds, especially of canaries; but Mrs. Peterkin argued
+that they would be less likely to be homesick, as they never had birds
+at home. After long moments of indecision, Elizabeth Eliza determined
+upon two canary-birds, thinking she might let them fly as they
+approached the shore of Portugal, and they would then reach their native
+islands. This matter detained her till the latest train, so that on her
+return from Boston to their quiet suburban home, she found the whole
+family assembled in the station, ready to take the through express train
+to New York.
+
+She did not have time, therefore, to go back to the house for her own
+things. It was now locked up and the key intrusted to the Bromwicks; and
+all the Bromwicks and the rest of the neighbors were at the station,
+ready to bid them good-by. The family had done their best to collect all
+her scattered bits of baggage; but all through her travels, afterward,
+she was continually missing something she had left behind, that she
+would have packed and had intended to bring.
+
+They reached New York with half a day on their hands; and during this
+time Agamemnon fell in with some old college friends, who were going
+with a party to Greece to look up the new excavations. They were to
+leave the next day in a steamer for Gibraltar. Agamemnon felt that here
+was the place for him, and hastened to consult his family. Perhaps he
+could persuade them to change their plans and take passage with the
+party for Gibraltar. But he reached the pier just as the steamer for
+Bordeaux was leaving the shore. He was too late, and was left behind!
+Too late to consult them, too late even to join them! He examined his
+map, however,--one of his latest purchases, which he carried in his
+pocket,--and consoled himself with the fact that on reaching Gibraltar
+he could soon communicate with his family at Bordeaux, and he was easily
+reconciled to his fate.
+
+It was not till the family landed at Bordeaux that they discovered the
+absence of Agamemnon. Every day there had been some of the family unable
+to come on deck,--sea-sick below. Mrs. Peterkin never left her berth,
+and constantly sent messages to the others to follow her example, as she
+was afraid some one of them would be lost overboard. Those who were on
+deck from time to time were always different ones, and the passage was
+remarkably quick; while, from the tossing of the ship, as they met rough
+weather, they were all too miserable to compare notes or count their
+numbers. Elizabeth Eliza especially had been exhausted by the voyage.
+She had not been many days seasick, but the incessant singing of the
+birds had deprived her of sleep. Then the necessity of talking French
+had been a great tax upon her. The other passengers were mostly French,
+and the rest of the family constantly appealed to her to interpret their
+wants, and explain them to the _garcon_ once every day at dinner.
+She felt as if she never wished to speak another word in French; and
+the necessity of being interpreter at the hotel at Bordeaux, on their
+arrival, seemed almost too much for her. She had even forgotten to let
+her canary-birds fly when off shore in the Bay of Biscay, and they were
+still with her, singing incessantly, as if they were rejoicing over an
+approach to their native shores. She thought now she must keep them till
+their return, which they were already planning.
+
+The little boys, indeed, would like to have gone back on the return trip
+of the steamer. A son of the steward told them that the return cargo
+consisted of dried fruits and raisins; that every stateroom, except
+those occupied with passengers, would be filled with boxes of raisins
+and jars of grapes; that these often broke open in the passage, giving
+a great opportunity for boys.
+
+But the family held to their Egypt plan, and were cheered by making the
+acquaintance of an English party. At the _table d'hote_ Elizabeth
+Eliza by chance dropped her fork into her neighbor's lap. She apologized
+in French; her neighbor answered in the same language, which Elizabeth
+Eliza understood so well that she concluded she had at last met with a
+true Parisian, and ventured on more conversation, when suddenly they
+both found they were talking in English, and Elizabeth Eliza exclaimed,
+"I am so glad to meet an American," at the moment that her companion was
+saying, "Then you are an Englishwoman!"
+
+From this moment Elizabeth Eliza was at ease, and indeed both parties
+were mutually pleased. Elizabeth Eliza's new friend was one of a large
+party, and she was delighted to find that they too were planning a
+winter in Egypt. They were waiting till a friend should have completed
+her "cure" at Pau, and the Peterkins were glad also to wait for the
+appearance of Agamemnon, who might arrive in the next steamer.
+
+One of the little boys was sure he had heard Agamemnon's voice the
+morning after they left New York, and was certain he must have been on
+board the vessel. Mr. Peterkin was not so sure. He now remembered that
+Agamemnon had not been at the dinner-table the very first evening; but
+then neither Mrs. Peterkin nor Solomon John was able to be present, as
+the vessel was tossing in a most uncomfortable manner, and nothing but
+dinner could have kept the little boys at table. Solomon John knew that
+Agamemnon had not been in his own stateroom during the passage, but he
+himself had seldom left it, and it had been always planned that
+Agamemnon should share that of a fellow-passenger.
+
+However this might be, it would be best to leave Marseilles with the
+English party by the "P. & O." steamer. This was one of the English
+"Peninsular and Oriental" line, that left Marseilles for Alexandria,
+Egypt, and made a return trip directly to Southampton, England. Mr.
+Peterkin thought it might be advisable to take "go-and-return" tickets,
+coming back to Southampton; and Mrs. Peterkin liked the idea of no
+change of baggage, though she dreaded the longer voyage. Elizabeth Eliza
+approved of this return trip in the P. & O. steamer, and decided it
+would give a good opportunity to dispose of her canary-birds on her
+return.
+
+The family therefore consoled themselves at Marseilles with the belief
+that Agamemnon would appear somehow. If not, Mr. Peterkin thought he
+could telegraph him from Marseilles, if he only knew where to telegraph
+to. But at Marseilles there was great confusion at the Hotel de
+Noailles; for the English party met other friends, who persuaded them to
+take route together by Brindisi. Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to continue
+with her new English friend, and Solomon John was delighted with the
+idea of passing through the whole length of Italy. But the sight of the
+long journey, as she saw it on the map in the guide-book, terrified Mrs.
+Peterkin. And Mr. Peterkin had taken their tickets for the Marseilles
+line. Elizabeth Eliza still dwelt upon the charm of crossing under the
+Alps, while this very idea alarmed Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+On the last morning the matter was still undecided. On leaving the
+hotel, it was necessary for the party to divide and take two omnibuses.
+Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin reached the steamer at the moment of departure,
+and suddenly Mrs. Peterkin found they were leaving the shore. As they
+crossed the broad gangway to reach the deck, she had not noticed they
+had left the pier; indeed, she had supposed that the steamer was one she
+saw out in the offing, and that they would be obliged to take a boat to
+reach it. She hurried from the group of travellers whom she had followed
+to find Mr. Peterkin reading from his guide-book to the little boys an
+explanation that they were passing the Chateau d'If, from which the
+celebrated historical character the Count of Monte Cristo had escaped by
+flinging himself into the sea.
+
+"Where is Elizabeth Eliza? Where is Solomon John?" Mrs. Peterkin
+exclaimed, seizing Mr. Peterkin's arm. Where indeed? There was a pile
+of the hand-baggage of the family, but not that of Elizabeth Eliza, not
+even the bird-cage. "It was on the top of the other omnibus," exclaimed
+Mrs. Peterkin. Yes, one of the little boys had seen it on the pavement
+of the court-yard of the hotel, and had carried it to the omnibus in
+which Elizabeth Eliza was sitting. He had seen her through the window.
+
+"Where is that other omnibus?" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin, looking vaguely
+over the deck, as they were fast retreating from the shore. "Ask
+somebody what became of that other omnibus!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps
+they have gone with the English people," suggested Mr. Peterkin; but he
+went to the officers of the boat, and attempted to explain in French
+that one half of his family had been left behind. He was relieved to
+find that the officers could understand his French, though they did not
+talk English. They declared, however, it was utterly impossible to turn
+back. They were already two minutes and a half behind time on account of
+waiting for a party who had been very long in crossing the gangway.
+
+Mr. Peterkin returned gloomily with the little boys to Mrs. Peterkin.
+"We cannot go back," he said, "we must content ourselves with going on;
+but I conclude we can telegraph from Malta. We can send a message to
+Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John, telling them that they can take the
+next Marseilles P. & O. steamer in ten days, or that they can go back
+to Southampton for the next boat, which leaves at the end of this week.
+And Elizabeth Eliza may decide upon this," Mr. Peterkin concluded, "on
+account of passing so near the Canary Isles."
+
+"She will be glad to be rid of the birds," said Mrs. Peterkin, calming
+herself.
+
+These anxieties, however, were swallowed up in new trials. Mrs. Peterkin
+found that she must share her cabin (she found it was called "cabin,"
+and not "stateroom," which bothered her and made her feel like Robinson
+Crusoe),--her cabin she must share with some strange ladies, while Mr.
+Peterkin and the little boys were carried to another part of the ship.
+Mrs. Peterkin remonstrated, delighted to find that her English was
+understood, though it was not listened to. It was explained to her
+that every family was divided in this way, and that she would meet Mr.
+Peterkin and the little boys at meal-times in the large _salon_--on
+which all the cabins opened--and on deck; and she was obliged to content
+herself with this. Whenever they met their time was spent in concocting
+a form of telegram to send from Malta. It would be difficult to bring it
+into the required number of words, as it would be necessary to suggest
+three different plans to Elizabeth Eliza and Solomon John. Besides
+the two they had already discussed, there was to be considered the
+possibility of their having joined the English party. But Mrs. Peterkin
+was sure they must have gone back first to the Hotel de Noailles, to
+which they could address their telegram.
+
+She found, meanwhile, the ladies in her cabin very kind and agreeable.
+They were mothers returning to India, who had been home to England to
+leave their children, as they were afraid to expose them longer to the
+climate of India. Mrs. Peterkin could have sympathetic talks with them
+over their family photographs. Mrs. Peterkin's family-book was, alas!
+in Elizabeth Eliza's hand-bag. It contained the family photographs,
+from early childhood upward, and was a large volume, representing the
+children at every age.
+
+At Malta, as he supposed, Mr. Peterkin and the little boys landed, in
+order to send their telegram. Indeed, all of the gentlemen among the
+passengers, and some of the ladies, gladly went on shore to visit the
+points of interest that could be seen in the time allotted. The steamer
+was to take in coal, and would not leave till early the next morning.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin did not accompany them. She still had her fears about
+leaving the ship and returning to it, although it had been so quietly
+accomplished at Marseilles.
+
+The party returned late at night, after Mrs. Peterkin had gone to her
+cabin. The next morning, she found the ship was in motion, but she did
+not find Mr. Peterkin and the little boys at the breakfast-table as
+usual. She was told that the party who went on shore had all been to
+the opera, and had returned at a late hour to the steamer, and would
+naturally be late at breakfast. Mrs. Peterkin went on deck to await
+them, and look for Malta as it seemed to retreat in the distance. But
+the day passed on, and neither Mr. Peterkin nor either of the little
+boys appeared! She tried to calm herself with the thought that they must
+need sleep; but all the rest of the passengers appeared, relating their
+different adventures. At last she sent the steward to inquire for them.
+He came back with one of the officers of the boat, much disturbed, to
+say that they could not be found; they must have been left behind. There
+was great excitement, and deep interest expressed for Mrs. Peterkin. One
+of the officers was very surly, and declared he could not be responsible
+for the inanity of passengers. Another was more courteous. Mrs. Peterkin
+asked if they could not go back,--if, at least, she could not be put
+back. He explained how this would be impossible, but that the company
+would telegraph when they reached Alexandria.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin calmed herself as well as she could, though indeed she was
+bewildered by her position. She was to land in Alexandria alone, and the
+landing she was told would be especially difficult. The steamer would
+not be able to approach the shore; the passengers would go down the
+sides of the ship, and be lifted off the steps, by Arabs, into a felucca
+(whatever that was) below. She shuddered at the prospect. It was darker
+than her gloomiest fancies had pictured. Would it not be better to
+remain in the ship, go back to Southampton, perhaps meet Elizabeth Eliza
+there, picking up Mr. Peterkin at Malta on the way? But at this moment
+she discovered that she was not on a "P. & O." steamer,--it was a French
+steamer of the "Messagerie" line; they had stopped at Messina, and not
+at Malta. She could not go back to Southampton, so she was told by an
+English colonel on his way to India. He indeed was very courteous, and
+advised her to "go to an hotel" at Alexandria with some of the ladies,
+and send her telegrams from there. To whom, however, would she wish to
+send a telegram?
+
+"Who is Mr. Peterkin's banker?" asked the Colonel. Alas! Mrs. Peterkin
+did not know. He had at first selected a banker in London, but had
+afterward changed his mind and talked of a banker in Paris; and she was
+not sure what was his final decision. She had known the name of the
+London banker, but had forgotten it, because she had written it down,
+and she never did remember the things she wrote down in her book. That
+was her old memorandum-book, and she had left it at home because she had
+brought a new one for her travels. She was sorry now she had not kept
+the old book. This, however, was not of so much importance, as it did
+not contain the name of the Paris banker; and this she had never heard.
+"Elizabeth Eliza would know;" but how could she reach Elizabeth Eliza?
+
+Some one asked if there were not some friend in America to whom she
+could appeal, if she did not object to using the ocean telegraph.
+
+"There is a friend in America," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to whom we all of
+us do go for advice, and who always does help us. She lives in
+Philadelphia."
+
+"Why not telegraph to her for advice?" asked her friends.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin gladly agreed that it would be the best plan. The expense
+of the cablegram would be nothing in comparison with the assistance the
+answer would bring.
+
+Her new friends then invited her to accompany them to their hotel
+in Alexandria, from which she could send her despatch. The thought
+of thus being able to reach her hand across the sea to the lady from
+Philadelphia gave Mrs. Peterkin fresh courage,--courage even to make the
+landing. As she descended the side of the ship and was guided down the
+steps, she closed her eyes that she might not see herself lifted into
+the many-oared boat by the wild-looking Arabs, of whom she had caught
+a glimpse from above. But she could not close her ears; and as they
+approached the shore, strange sounds almost deafened her. She closed her
+eyes again, as she was lifted from the boat and heard the wild yells and
+shrieks around her. There was a clashing of brass, a jingling of bells,
+and the screams grew more and more terrific. If she did open her eyes,
+she saw wild figures gesticulating, dark faces, gay costumes, crowds of
+men and boys, donkeys, horses, even camels, in the distance. She closed
+her eyes once more as she was again lifted. Should she now find herself
+on the back of one of those high camels? Perhaps for this she came to
+Egypt. But when she looked round again, she found she was leaning back
+in a comfortable open carriage, with a bottle of salts at her nose. She
+was in the midst of a strange whirl of excitement; but all the party
+were bewildered, and she had scarcely recovered her composure when they
+reached the hotel.
+
+Here a comfortable meal and rest somewhat restored them. By the next day
+a messenger from the boat brought her the return telegram from Messina.
+Mr. Peterkin and family, left behind by the "Messagerie" steamer, had
+embarked the next day by steamer, probably for Naples.
+
+More anxious than ever was Mrs. Peterkin to send her despatch. It was
+too late the day of their arrival; but at an early hour next day it was
+sent, and after a day had elapsed, the answer came:--
+
+  "All meet at the Sphinx."
+
+
+Everything now seemed plain. The words were few but clear. Her English
+friends were going directly to Cairo, and she accompanied them.
+
+After reaching Cairo, the whole party were obliged to rest awhile. They
+would indeed go with Mrs. Peterkin on her first visit to the Sphinx, as
+to see the Sphinx and ascend the pyramid formed part of their programme.
+But many delays occurred to detain them, and Mrs. Peterkin had resolved
+to carry out completely the advice of the telegram. She would sit every
+day before the Sphinx. She found that as yet there was no hotel exactly
+in front of the Sphinx, nor indeed on that side of the river, and she
+would be obliged to make the excursion of nine miles there and nine
+miles back, each day. But there would always be a party of travellers
+whom she could accompany. Each day she grew more and more accustomed to
+the bewildering sights and sounds about her, and more and more willing
+to intrust herself to the dark-colored guides. At last, chafing at so
+many delays, she decided to make the expedition without her new friends.
+She had made some experiments in riding upon a donkey, and found she was
+seldom thrown, and could not be hurt by the slight fall.
+
+And so, one day, Mrs. Peterkin sat alone in front of the Sphinx,--alone,
+as far as her own family and friends were concerned, and yet not alone
+indeed. A large crowd of guides sat around this strange lady who
+proposed to spend the day in front of the Sphinx. Clad in long white
+robes, with white turbans crowning their dark faces, they gazed into her
+eyes with something of the questioning expression with which she herself
+was looking into the eyes of the Sphinx.
+
+There were other travellers wandering about. Just now her own party had
+collected to eat their lunch together; but they were scattered again,
+and she sat with a circle of Arabs about her, the watchful dragoman
+lingering near.
+
+Somehow the Eastern languor must have stolen upon her, or she could not
+have sat so calmly, not knowing where a single member of her family was
+at that moment. And she had dreaded Egypt so; had feared separation; had
+even been a little afraid of the Sphinx, upon which she was now looking
+as at a protecting angel. But they all were to meet at the Sphinx!
+
+If only she could have seen where the different members of the family
+were at that moment, she could not have sat so quietly. She little knew
+that a tall form, not far away (following some guides down into the
+lower halls of a lately excavated temple), with a blue veil wrapped
+about a face shielded with smoke-colored spectacles, was that of
+Elizabeth Eliza herself, from whom she had been separated two weeks
+before.
+
+She little knew that at this moment Solomon John was standing looking
+over the edge of the Matterhorn, wishing he had not come up so high. But
+such a gay young party had set off that morning from the hotel that he
+had supposed it an easy thing to join them; and now he would fain go
+back, but was tied to the rest of his party with their guide preceding
+them, and he must keep on and crawl up behind them, still farther, on
+hands and knees.
+
+Agamemnon was at Mycenae, looking down into an open pit.
+
+Two of the little boys were roasting eggs in the crater of Mount
+Vesuvius.
+
+And she would have seen Mr. Peterkin comfortably reclining in a gondola,
+with one of the little boys, in front of the palaces of Venice.
+
+But none of this she saw; she only looked into the eyes of the Sphinx.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID.
+
+
+"Meet at the Sphinx!" Yes; these were the words that the lady from
+Philadelphia had sent in answer to the several telegrams that had
+reached her from each member of the Peterkin family. She had received
+these messages while staying in a remote country town, but she could
+communicate with the cable line by means of the telegraph office at a
+railway station. The intelligent operator, seeing the same date affixed
+at the close of each message, "took in," as she afterward expressed it,
+that it was the date of the day on which the message was sent; and as
+this was always prefixed to every despatch, she did not add it to the
+several messages. She afterward expressed herself as sorry for the
+mistake, and declared it should not occur another time.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza was the first at the appointed spot, as her route had
+been somewhat shorter than the one her mother had taken. A wild joy had
+seized her when she landed in Egypt, and saw the frequent and happy use
+of the donkey as a beast of travel. She had never ventured to ride at
+home, and had always shuddered at the daring of the women who rode at
+the circuses, and closed her eyes at their performances. But as soon as
+she saw the little Egyptian donkeys, a mania for riding possessed her.
+She was so tall that she could scarcely, under any circumstances, fall
+from them, while she could mount them with as much ease as she could the
+arm of the sofa at home, and most of the animals seemed as harmless. It
+is true, the donkey-boys gave her the wrong word to use when she might
+wish to check the pace of her donkey, and mischievously taught her to
+avoid the soothing phrase of _beschwesch_, giving her instead one
+that should goad the beast she rode to its highest speed; but Elizabeth
+Eliza was so delighted with the quick pace that she was continually
+urging her donkey onward, to the surprise and delight of each fresh
+attendant donkey-boy. He would run at a swift pace after her, stopping
+sometimes to pick up a loose slipper, if it were shuffled off from his
+foot in his quick run, but always bringing up even in the end.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza's party had made a quick journey by the route from
+Brindisi, and proceeding directly to Cairo, had stopped at a small
+French hotel not very far from Mrs. Peterkin and her party. Every
+morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her visit to the Sphinx,
+arriving there always the first one of her own party, and spending the
+rest of the day in explorations about the neighborhood.
+
+[Illustration: Every morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her
+visit to the Sphinx.]
+
+Mrs. Peterkin, meanwhile, set out each day at a later hour, arriving
+in time to take her noon lunch in front of the Sphinx, after which she
+indulged in a comfortable nap and returned to the hotel before sunset.
+
+A week--indeed, ten days--passed in this way. One morning, Mrs. Peterkin
+and her party had taken the ferry-boat to cross the Nile. As they were
+leaving the boat on the other side, in the usual crowd, Mrs. Peterkin's
+attention was arrested by a familiar voice. She turned, to see a tall
+young man who, though he wore a red fez upon his head and a scarlet wrap
+around his neck, certainly resembled Agamemnon. But this Agamemnon was
+talking Greek, with gesticulations. She was so excited that she turned
+to follow him through the crowd, thus separating herself from the rest
+of her party. At once she found herself surrounded by a mob of Arabs, in
+every kind of costume, all screaming and yelling in the manner to which
+she was becoming accustomed. Poor Mrs. Peterkin plaintively protested in
+English, exclaiming, "I should prefer a donkey!" but the Arabs could not
+understand her strange words. They had, however, struck the ear of the
+young man in the red fez whom she had been following. He turned, and she
+gazed at him. It was Agamemnon!
+
+He, meanwhile, was separated from his party, and hardly knew how to
+grapple with the urgent Arabs. His recently acquired Greek did not
+assist him, and he was advising his mother to yield and mount one of the
+steeds, while he followed on another, when, happily, the dragoman of her
+party appeared. He administered a volley of rebukes to the persistent
+Arabs, and bore Mrs. Peterkin to her donkey. She was thus carried away
+from Agamemnon, who was also mounted upon a donkey by his companions.
+But their destination was the same; and though they could hold no
+conversation on the way, Agamemnon could join his mother as they
+approached the Sphinx.
+
+But he and his party were to ascend the pyramid before going on to the
+Sphinx, and he advised his mother to do the same. He explained that it
+was a perfectly easy thing to do. You had only to lift one of your feet
+up quite high, as though you were going to step on the mantelpiece, and
+an Arab on each side would lift you to the next step. Mrs. Peterkin was
+sure she could not step up on their mantelpieces at home. She never had
+done it,--she never had even tried to. But Agamemnon reminded her that
+those in their own house were very high,--"old colonial;" and meanwhile
+she found herself carried along with the rest of the party.
+
+At first the ascent was delightful to her. It seemed as if she were
+flying. The powerful Nubian guides, one on each side, lifted her
+jauntily up, without her being conscious of motion. Having seen them
+daily for some time past, she was now not much afraid of these handsome
+athletes, with their polished black skins, set off by dazzling white
+garments. She called out to Agamemnon, who had preceded her, that it was
+charming; she was not at all afraid. Every now and then she stopped to
+rest on the broad cornice made by each retreating step. Suddenly, when
+she was about half-way up, as she leaned back against the step above,
+she found herself panting and exhausted. A strange faintness came over
+her. She was looking off over a beautiful scene: through the wide Libyan
+desert the blue Nile wound between borders of green edging, while the
+picturesque minarets of Cairo, on the opposite side of the river, and
+the sand in the distance beyond, gleamed with a red and yellow light
+beneath the rays of the noonday sun.
+
+But the picture danced and wavered before her dizzy sight. She sat
+there alone; for Agamemnon and the rest had passed on, thinking she was
+stopping to rest. She seemed deserted, save by the speechless black
+statues, one on either side, who, as she seemed to be fainting before
+their eyes, were looking at her in some anxiety. She saw dimly these
+wild men gazing at her. She thought of Mungo Park, dying with the
+African women singing about him. How little she had ever dreamed, when
+she read that account in her youth, and gazed at the savage African
+faces in the picture, that she might be left to die in the same way
+alone, in a strange land--and on the side of a pyramid! Her guides were
+kindly. One of them took her shawl to wrap about her, as she seemed to
+be shivering; and as a party coming down from the top had a jar of
+water, one of her Nubians moistened a handkerchief with water and laid
+it upon her head. Mrs. Peterkin had closed her eyes, but she opened them
+again, to see the black figures in their white draperies still standing
+by her. The travellers coming down paused a few minutes to wonder and
+give counsel, then passed on, to make way for another party following
+them. Again Mrs. Peterkin closed her eyes, but once more opened them at
+hearing a well-known shout,--such a shout as only one of the Peterkin
+family could give,--one of the little boys!
+
+Yes, he stood before her, and Agamemnon was behind; they had met on top
+of the pyramid.
+
+The sight was indeed a welcome one to Mrs. Peterkin, and revived her so
+that she even began to ask questions: "Where had he come from? Where
+were the other little boys? Where was Mr. Peterkin?" No one could tell
+where the other little boys were. And the sloping side of the pyramid,
+with a fresh party waiting to pass up and the guides eager to go down,
+was not just the place to explain the long, confused story. All that
+Mrs. Peterkin could understand was that Mr. Peterkin was now, probably,
+inside the pyramid, beneath her very feet! Agamemnon had found this
+solitary "little boy" on top of the pyramid, accompanied by a guide and
+one of the party that he and his father had joined on leaving Venice. At
+the foot of the pyramid there had been some dispute in the party as to
+whether they should first go up the pyramid, or down inside, and in the
+altercation the party was divided; the little boy had been sure that his
+father meant to go up first, and so he had joined the guide who went up.
+But where was Mr. Peterkin? Probably in the innermost depths of the
+pyramid below. As soon as Mrs. Peterkin understood this, she was eager
+to go down, in spite of her late faintness; even to tumble down would
+help her to meet Mr. Peterkin the sooner. She was lifted from stone to
+stone by the careful Nubians. Agamemnon had already emptied his pocket
+of coins, in supplying backsheesh to his guide, and all were anxious to
+reach the foot of the pyramid and find the dragoman, who could answer
+the demands of the others.
+
+Breathless as she was, as soon as she had descended, Mrs. Peterkin was
+anxious to make for the entrance to the inside. Before, she had declared
+that nothing would induce her to go into the pyramid. She was afraid of
+being lost in its stairways and shut up forever as a mummy. But now she
+forgot all her terrors; she must find Mr. Peterkin at once!
+
+She was the first to plunge down the narrow stairway after the guide,
+and was grateful to find the steps so easy to descend. But they
+presently came out into a large, open room, where no stairway was to be
+seen. On the contrary, she was invited to mount the shoulders of a burly
+Nubian, to reach a large hole half-way up the side-wall (higher than any
+mantelpiece), and to crawl through this hole along the passage till she
+should reach another stairway. Mrs. Peterkin paused. Could she trust
+these men? Was not this a snare to entice her into one of these narrow
+passages? Agamemnon was far behind. Could Mr. Peterkin have ventured
+into this treacherous place?
+
+At this moment a head appeared through the opening above, followed by a
+body. It was that of one of the native guides. Voices were heard coming
+through the passage: one voice had a twang to it that surely Mrs.
+Peterkin had heard before. Another head appeared now, bound with a blue
+veil, while the eyes were hidden by green goggles. Yet Mrs. Peterkin
+could not be mistaken,--it was--yes, it was the head of Elizabeth Eliza!
+
+It seemed as though that were all, it was so difficult to bring forward
+any more of her. Mrs. Peterkin was screaming from below, asking if it
+were indeed Elizabeth Eliza, while excitement at recognizing her mother
+made it more difficult for Elizabeth Eliza to extricate herself. But
+travellers below and behind urged her on, and with the assistance of the
+guides, she pushed forward and almost fell into the arms of her mother.
+Mrs. Peterkin was wild with joy as Agamemnon and his brother joined
+them.
+
+"But Mr. Peterkin!" at last exclaimed their mother. "Did you see
+anything of your father?"
+
+"He is behind," said Elizabeth Eliza. "I was looking for the body of
+Chufu, the founder of the pyramid,--for I have longed to be the
+discoverer of his mummy,--and I found instead--my father!"
+
+Mrs. Peterkin looked up, and at that moment saw Mr. Peterkin emerging
+from the passage above. He was carefully planting one foot on the
+shoulder of a stalwart Nubian guide. He was very red in the face, from
+recent exertion, but he was indeed Mr. Peterkin. On hearing the cry of
+Mrs. Peterkin, he tottered, and would have fallen but for the support of
+the faithful guide.
+
+The narrow place was scarcely large enough to hold their joy. Mrs.
+Peterkin was ready to faint again with her great excitement. She wanted
+to know what had become of the other little boys, and if Mr. Peterkin
+had heard from Solomon John. But the small space was becoming more and
+more crowded. The dragomans from the different parties with which the
+Peterkins were connected came to announce their several luncheons, and
+insisted upon their leaving the pyramid.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin's dragoman wanted her to go on directly to the Sphinx, and
+she still clung to the belief that only then would there be a complete
+reunion of the family. Yet she could not separate herself from the rest.
+They could not let her go, and they were all hungry, and she herself
+felt the need of food.
+
+But with the confusion of so many luncheons, and so much explanation to
+be gone through with, it was difficult to get an answer to her
+questions.
+
+Elizabeth and her father were involved in a discussion as to whether
+they should have met if he had not gone into the queen's chamber in the
+pyramid. For if he had not gone to the queen's chamber he would have
+left the inside of the pyramid before Mrs. Peterkin reached it, and
+would have missed her, as he was too fatigued to make the ascent. And
+Elizabeth Eliza, if she had not met her father, had planned going back
+to the king's chamber in another search for the body of Chufu, in which
+case she would have been too late to meet her mother. Mrs. Peterkin was
+not much interested in this discussion; it was enough that they had met.
+But she could not get answers to what she considered more important
+questions; while Elizabeth Eliza, though delighted to meet again her
+father and mother and brothers, and though interested in the fate of the
+missing ones, was absorbed in the Egyptian question; and the mingling of
+all their interests made satisfactory intercourse impracticable.
+
+Where was Solomon John? What had become of the body of Chufu? Had
+Solomon John been telegraphed to? When had Elizabeth Eliza seen him
+last? Was he Chufu or Shufu, and why Cheops? and where were the other
+little boys?
+
+Mr. Peterkin attempted to explain that he had taken a steamer from
+Messina to the south of Italy, and a southern route to Brindisi. By
+mistake he had taken the steamer from Alexandria, on its way to Venice,
+instead of the one that was leaving Brindisi for Alexandria at the same
+hour. Indeed, just as he had discovered his mistake, and had seen the
+other boat steaming off by his side in the other direction, too late he
+fancied he saw the form of Elizabeth Eliza on deck, leaning over the
+taffrail (if it was a taffrail). It was a tall lady, with a blue veil
+wound around her hat. Was it possible? Could he have been in time to
+reach Elizabeth Eliza? His explanation only served to increase the
+number of questions.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin had many more. How had Agamemnon reached them? Had he
+come to Bordeaux with them? But Agamemnon and Elizabeth Eliza were
+now discussing with others the number of feet that the Great Pyramid
+measured. The remaining members of all the parties, too, whose hunger
+and thirst were now fully satisfied, were ready to proceed to the
+Sphinx, which only Mrs. Peterkin and Elizabeth Eliza had visited.
+
+Side by side on their donkeys, Mrs. Peterkin attempted to learn
+something from Mr. Peterkin about the other little boys. But his donkey
+proved restive: now it bore him on in swift flight from Mrs. Peterkin;
+now it would linger behind. His words were jerked out only at intervals.
+All that could be said was that they were separated; the little boys
+wanted to go to Vesuvius, but Mr. Peterkin felt they must hurry to
+Brindisi. At a station where the two trains parted--one for Naples, the
+other for Brindisi--he found suddenly, too late, that they were not with
+him; they must have gone on to Naples. But where were they now?
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS.
+
+
+The expedition up the Nile had taken place successfully. The Peterkin
+family had reached Cairo again,--at least, its scattered remnant was
+there, and they were now to consider what next.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin would like to spend her life in the dahabieh,[1] though
+she could not pronounce its name, and she still felt the strangeness
+of the scenes about her. However, she had only to look out upon the
+mud villages on the bank to see that she was in the veritable "Africa"
+she had seen pictured in the geography of her childhood. If further
+corroboration were required, had she not, only the day before, when
+accompanied by no one but a little donkey-boy, shuddered to meet a
+strange Nubian, attired principally in hair that stood out from his
+savage face in frizzes at least half a yard long?
+
+[Footnote 1: A boat used for transportation on the Nile.]
+
+But oh the comforts of no trouble in housekeeping on board the dahabieh!
+Never to know what they were to have for dinner, nor to be asked what
+they would like, and yet always to have a dinner you could ask chance
+friends to, knowing all would be perfectly served! Some of the party
+with whom they had engaged their dahabieh had even brought canned baked
+beans from New England, which seemed to make their happiness complete.
+
+"Though we see beans here," said Mrs. Peterkin, "they are not 'Boston
+beans'!"
+
+She had fancied she would have to live on stuffed ostrich (ostrich
+stuffed with iron filings, that the books tell of), or fried
+hippopotamus, or boiled rhinoceros. But she met with none of these, and
+day after day was rejoiced to find her native turkey appearing on the
+table, with pigeons and chickens (though the chickens, to be sure, were
+scarcely larger than the pigeons), and lamb that was really not more
+tough than that of New Hampshire and the White Mountains.
+
+If they dined with the Arabs, there was indeed a kind of dark
+molasses-gingerbread-looking cake, with curds in it, that she found it
+hard to eat. "But _they_ like it," she said complacently.
+
+The remaining little boy, too, smiled over his pile of ripe bananas, as
+he thought of the quarter-of-a-dollar-a-half-dozen green ones at that
+moment waiting at the corners of the streets at home. Indeed, it was a
+land for boys. There were the dates, both fresh and dried,--far more
+juicy than those learned at school; and there was the gingerbread-nut
+tree, the dom palm, that bore a nut tasting "like baker's gingerbread
+that has been kept a few days in the shop," as the remaining little boy
+remarked. And he wished for his brothers when the live dinner came on
+board their boat, at the stopping-places, in the form of good-sized
+sheep struggling on the shoulders of stout Arabs, or an armful of live
+hens and pigeons.
+
+All the family (or as much of it as was present) agreed with Mrs.
+Peterkin's views. Amanda at home had seemed quite a blessing, but at
+this distance her services, compared with the attentions of their
+Maltese dragoman and the devotion of their Arab servants, seemed of
+doubtful value, and even Mrs. Peterkin dreaded returning to her tender
+mercies.
+
+"Just imagine inviting the Russian Count to dinner at home--and Amanda!"
+exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"And he came to dinner at least three times a week on board the boat,"
+said the remaining little boy.
+
+"The Arabs are so convenient about carrying one's umbrellas and shawls,"
+said Elizabeth Eliza. "How I should miss Hassan in picking up my blue
+veil!"
+
+The family recalled many anecdotes of the shortcomings of Amanda, as
+Mrs. Peterkin leaned back upon her divan and wafted a fly-whisk. Mr.
+Peterkin had expended large sums in telegrams from every point where he
+found the telegraph in operation; but there was no reply from Solomon
+John, and none from the two little boys.
+
+By a succession of telegrams they had learned that no one had fallen
+into the crater of Vesuvius in the course of the last six months, not
+even a little boy. This was consoling.
+
+By letters from the lady from Philadelphia, they learned that she had
+received Solomon John's telegram from Geneva at the time she heard
+from the rest of the family, and one signed "L. Boys" from Naples. But
+neither of these telegrams gave an address for return answers, which
+she had, however, sent to Geneva and Naples, with the fatal omission by
+the operator (as she afterward learned) of the date, as in the other
+telegrams.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin therefore disliked to be long away from the Sphinx, and
+their excursion up the Nile had been shortened on this account. All
+the Nubian guides near the pyramids had been furnished with additional
+backsheesh and elaborate explanations from Mr. Peterkin as to how they
+should send him information if Solomon John and the little boys should
+turn up at the Sphinx,--for all the family agreed they would probably
+appear in Egypt together.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin regretted not having any photographs to leave with the
+guides; but Elizabeth Eliza, alas! had lost at Brindisi the hand-bag
+that contained the family photograph-book.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin would have liked to take up her residence near the Sphinx
+for the rest of the year. But every one warned her that the heat of an
+Egyptian summer would not allow her to stay at Cairo,--scarcely even on
+the sea-shore, at Alexandria.
+
+How thankful was Mrs. Peterkin, a few months after, when the war in
+Egypt broke out, that her wishes had not been yielded to! For many
+nights she could not sleep, picturing how they all might have been
+massacred by the terrible mob in Alexandria.
+
+Intelligence of Solomon John led them to take their departure.
+
+One day, they were discussing at the _table d'hote_ their letters
+from the lady from Philadelphia, and how they showed that Solomon John
+had been at Geneva.
+
+"Ah, there was his mistake!" said Elizabeth Eliza. "The Doolittles left
+Marseilles with us, and were to branch off for Geneva, and we kept on to
+Genoa, and Solomon John was always mistaking Genoa for Geneva, as we
+planned our route. I remember there was a great confusion when they got
+off."
+
+"I always mix up Geneva and Genoa," said Mrs. Peterkin. "I feel as if
+they were the same."
+
+"They are quite different," said Elizabeth Eliza; "and Genoa lay in our
+route, while Geneva took him into Switzerland."
+
+An English gentleman, on the opposite side of the table, then spoke to
+Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"I beg pardon," he said. "I think I met one of your name in Athens.
+He attracted our attention because he went every day to the same spot,
+and he told us he expected to meet his family there,--that he had an
+appointment by telegraph--"
+
+"In Athens!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"Was his name Solomon John?" asked Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"Were there two little boys?" inquired Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"His initials were the same as mine," replied the
+Englishman,--"S.J.P.,--for some of his luggage came by mistake into my
+room, and that is why I spoke of it."
+
+"Is there a Sphinx in Athens?" Mrs. Peterkin inquired.
+
+"There used to be one there," said Agamemnon.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Englishman, "but that Sphinx never was in
+Athens."
+
+"But Solomon John may have made the mistake,--we all make our mistakes,"
+said Mrs. Peterkin, tying her bonnet-strings, as if ready to go to meet
+Solomon John at that moment.
+
+"The Sphinx was at Thebes in the days of OEdipus," said the Englishman.
+"No one would expect to find it anywhere in Greece at the present day."
+
+"But was Solomon John inquiring for it?" asked Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"Indeed, no!" answered the Englishman; "he went every day to the Pnyx, a
+famous hill in Athens, where his telegram had warned him he should meet
+his friends."
+
+"The Pnyx!" exclaimed Mr. Peterkin; "and how do you spell it?"
+
+"P-n-y-x!" cried Agamemnon,--"the same letters as in Sphinx!"
+
+"All but the _s_ and the _h_ and the _y_" said Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"I often spell Sphinx with a _y_ myself," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"And a telegraph-operator makes such mistakes!" said Agamemnon.
+
+"His telegram had been forwarded to him from Switzerland," said the
+Englishman; "it had followed him into the dolomite region, and must have
+been translated many timed."
+
+"And of course they could not all have been expected to keep the letters
+in the right order," said Elizabeth Eliza.
+
+"And were there two little boys with him?" repeated Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+No; there were no little boys. But further inquiries satisfied the
+family that Solomon John must be awaiting them in Athens. And how
+natural the mistake! Mrs. Peterkin said that if she had known of a Pnyx,
+she should surely have looked for the family there.
+
+Should they then meet Solomon John at the Pnyx, or summon him to Egypt?
+It seemed safer to go directly to Athens, especially as Mr. Peterkin and
+Agamemnon were anxious to visit that city.
+
+It was found that a steamer would leave Alexandria next day for Athens,
+by way of Smyrna and Constantinople. This was a roundabout course;
+but Mr. Peterkin was impatient to leave, and was glad to gain more
+acquaintance with the world. Meanwhile they could telegraph their plans
+to Solomon John, as the English gentleman could give them the address of
+his hotel.
+
+And Mrs. Peterkin did not now shrink from another voyage. Her experience
+on the Nile had made her forget her sufferings in crossing the Atlantic,
+and she no longer dreaded entering another steamboat. Their delight in
+river navigation, indeed, had been so great that the whole family had
+listened with interest to the descriptions given by their Russian
+fellow-traveller of steamboat navigation on the Volga--"the most
+beautiful river in the world," as he declared. Elizabeth Eliza and Mr.
+Peterkin were eager to try it, and Agamemnon remarked that such a trip
+would give them an opportunity to visit the renowned fair at
+Nijninovgorod. Even Mrs. Peterkin had consented to this expedition,
+provided they should meet Solomon John and the other little boys.
+
+She started, therefore, on a fresh voyage without any dread, forgetting
+that the Mediterranean, if not so wide as the Atlantic, is still a sea,
+and often as tempestuous and uncomfortably "choppy." Alas! she was soon
+to be awakened from her forgetfulness: the sea was the same old enemy.
+
+As they passed up among the Ionian Isles, and she heard Agamemnon and
+Elizabeth Eliza and their Russian friend (who was accompanying them to
+Constantinople) talking of the old gods of Greece, she fancied that they
+were living still, and that Neptune and the classic waves were wreaking
+their vengeance on them, and pounding and punishing them for venturing
+to rule them with steam. She was fairly terrified. As they entered
+Smyrna she declared she would never enter any kind of a boat again, and
+that Mr. Peterkin must find some way by which they could reach home by
+land.
+
+How delightful it was to draw near the shore, on a calm afternoon,--even
+to trust herself to the charge of the boatmen in leaving the ship, and
+to reach land once more and meet the tumult of voices and people! Here
+were the screaming and shouting usual in the East, and the same bright
+array of turbans and costumes in the crowd awaiting them. But a
+well-known voice reached them, and from the crowd rose a well-known
+face. Even before they reached the land they had recognized its owner.
+With his American dress, he looked almost foreign in contrast to the
+otherwise universal Eastern color. A tall figure on either side seemed,
+also, each to have a familiar air.
+
+Were there three Solomon Johns?
+
+No; it was Solomon John and the two other little boys--but grown so that
+they were no longer little boys. Even Mrs. Peterkin was unable to
+recognize them at first. But the tones of their voices, their ways, were
+as natural as ever. Each had a banana in his hand, and pockets stuffed
+with oranges.
+
+Questions and answers interrupted each other in a most confusing
+manner:--
+
+"Are you the little boys?"
+
+"Where have you been?"
+
+"Did you go to Vesuvius?"
+
+"How did you get away?"
+
+"Why didn't you come sooner?"
+
+"Our India-rubber boots stuck in the hot lava."
+
+"Have you been there all this time?"
+
+"No; we left them there."
+
+"Have you had fresh dates?"
+
+"They are all gone now, but the dried ones are better than those
+squeezed ones we have at home."
+
+"How you have grown!"
+
+"Why didn't you telegraph?"
+
+"Why did you go to Vesuvius, when Papa said he couldn't?"
+
+"Did you, too, think it was Pnyx?"
+
+"Where have you been all winter?"
+
+"Did you roast eggs in the crater?"
+
+"When did you begin to grow?"
+
+The little boys could not yet thoroughly explain themselves; they always
+talked together and in foreign languages, interrupting each other, and
+never agreeing as to dates.
+
+Solomon John accounted for his appearance in Smyrna by explaining that
+when he received his father's telegram in Athens, he decided to meet
+them at Smyrna. He was tired of waiting at the Pnyx. He had but just
+landed, and came near missing his family, and the little boys too, who
+had reached Athens just as he was leaving it. None of the family wished
+now to continue their journey to Athens, but they had the advice and
+assistance of their Russian friend in planning to leave the steamer at
+Constantinople; they would, by adopting this plan, be _en route_
+for the proposed excursion to the Volga.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin was overwhelmed with joy at having all her family together
+once more; but with it a wave of homesickness surged over her. They were
+all together; why not go home?
+
+It was found that there was a sailing-vessel bound absolutely for Maine,
+in which they might take passage. No more separation; no more mistakes;
+no more tedious study of guide-books; no more weighing of baggage. Every
+trunk and bag, every Peterkin, could be placed in the boat, and safely
+landed on the shores of home. It was a temptation, and at one time Mrs.
+Peterkin actually pleaded for it.
+
+But there came a throbbing in her head, a swimming in her eyes, a
+swaying of the very floor of the hotel. Could she bear it, day after
+day, week after week? Would any of them be alive? And Constantinople not
+seen, nor steam-navigation on the Volga!
+
+And so new plans arose, and wonderful discoveries were made, and the
+future of the Peterkin family was changed forever.
+
+In the first place a strange stout gentleman in spectacles had followed
+the Peterkin family to the hotel, had joined in the family councils, and
+had rendered valuable service in negotiating with the officers of the
+steamer for the cancellation of their through tickets to Athens. He
+dined at the same table, and was consulted by the (formerly) little
+boys.
+
+Who was he?
+
+They explained that he was their "preceptor." It appeared that after
+they parted from their father, the little boys had become mixed up with
+some pupils who were being taken by their preceptor to Vesuvius. For
+some time he had not noticed that his party (consisting of boys of their
+own age) had been enlarged; and after finding this out, he had concluded
+they were the sons of an English family with whom he had been
+corresponding. He was surprised that no further intelligence came with
+them, and no extra baggage. They had, however, their hand-bags; and
+after sending their telegram to the lady from Philadelphia, they assured
+him that all would be right. But they were obliged to leave Naples the
+very day of despatching the telegram, and left no address to which an
+answer could be sent. The preceptor took them, with his pupils, directly
+back to his institution in Gratz, Austria, from which he had taken them
+on this little excursion.
+
+It was not till the end of the winter that he discovered that his
+youthful charges--whom he had been faithfully instructing, and who had
+found the gymnasium and invigorating atmosphere so favorable to
+growth--were not the sons of his English correspondent, whom he had
+supposed, from their explanations, to be travelling in America.
+
+He was, however, intending to take his pupils to Athens in the spring,
+and by this time the little boys were able to explain themselves better
+in his native language. They assured him they should meet their family
+in the East, and the preceptor felt it safe to take them upon the track
+proposed.
+
+It was now that Mr. Peterkin prided himself upon the plan he had
+insisted upon before leaving home. "Was it not well," he exclaimed,
+"that I provided each of you with a bag of gold, for use in case of
+emergency, hidden in the lining of your hand-bags?"
+
+This had worked badly for Elizabeth Eliza, to be sure, who had left hers
+at Brindisi; but the little boys had been able to pay some of their
+expenses, which encouraged the preceptor to believe he might trust them
+for the rest. So much pleased were all the family with the preceptor
+that they decided that all three of the little boys should continue
+under his instructions, and return with him to Gratz. This decision made
+more easy the other plans of the family.
+
+Both Agamemnon and Solomon John had decided they would like to be
+foreign consuls. They did not much care where, and they would accept any
+appointment; and both, it appeared, had written on the subject to the
+Department at Washington. Agamemnon had put in a plea for a vacancy at
+Madagascar, and Solomon John hoped for an opening at Rustchuk, Turkey;
+if not there, at Aintab, Syria. Answers were expected, which were now
+telegraphed for, to meet them in Constantinople.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Peterkin had been consulting the preceptor and the Russian
+Count about a land-journey home. More and more Mrs. Peterkin determined
+she could not and would not trust herself to another voyage, though she
+consented to travel by steamer to Constantinople. If they went as far as
+Nijninovgorod, which was now decided upon, why could they not persevere
+through "Russia in Asia"?
+
+Their Russian friend at first shook his head at this, but at last agreed
+that it might be possible to go on from Novgorod comfortably to Tobolsk,
+perhaps even from there to Yakoutsk, and then to Kamtschatka.
+
+"And cross at Behring's Strait!" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. "It looks so
+narrow on the map."
+
+"And then we are in Alaska," said Mr. Peterkin.
+
+"And at home," exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin, "and no more voyages."
+
+But Elizabeth Eliza doubted about Kamtschatka and Behring's Strait, and
+thought it would be very cold.
+
+"But we can buy furs on our way," insisted Mrs. Peterkin.
+
+"And if you do not find the journey agreeable," said their Russian
+friend, "you can turn back from Yakoutsk, even from Tobolsk, and come to
+visit us."
+
+Yes--_us_! For Elizabeth Eliza was to marry the Russian Count!
+
+He had been in a boat that was behind them on the Nile, had met them
+often, had climbed the ruins with them, joined their excursions, and had
+finally proposed at Edfu.
+
+Elizabeth Eliza had then just written to consult the lady from
+Philadelphia with regard to the offer of a German professor they had
+met, and she could give no reply to the Count.
+
+Now, however, it was necessary to make a decision. She had meanwhile
+learned a few words of Russian. The Count spoke English moderately well,
+made himself understood better than the Professor, and could understand
+Elizabeth Eliza's French. Also the Count knew how to decide questions
+readily, while the Professor had to consider both sides before he could
+make up his mind.
+
+Mrs. Peterkin objected strongly at first. She could not even pronounce
+the Russian's name. "How should she be able to speak to him, or tell
+anybody whom Elizabeth Eliza had married?" But finally the family all
+gave their consent, won by the attention and devotion of Elizabeth
+Eliza's last admirer.
+
+The marriage took place in Constantinople, not at Santa Sophia, as
+Elizabeth Eliza would have wished, as that was under a Mohammedan
+dispensation. A number of American residents were present, and the
+preceptor sent for his other pupils in Athens. Elizabeth Eliza wished
+there was time to invite the lady from Philadelphia to be present, and
+Ann Maria Bromwick. Would the name be spelled right in the newspapers?
+All that could be done was to spell it by telegraph as accurately as
+possible, as far as they themselves knew how, and then leave the papers
+to do their best (or their worst) in their announcements of the wedding
+"at the American Consulate, Constantinople, Turkey. No cards."
+
+The last that was ever heard of the Peterkins, Agamemnon was on his way
+to Madagascar, Solomon John was at Rustchuk, and the little boys at
+Gratz; Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, in a comfortable sledge, were on their way
+from Tobolsk to Yakoutsk; and Elizabeth Eliza was passing her honeymoon
+in the neighborhood of Moscow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+OTHERS OF THEIR KIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+LUCILLA'S DIARY.
+
+
+MONDAY.--I spent some time this morning watching for the rag-man. I wish
+I had taken down a note which day it was I saw him before. I remember it
+was washing-day, for I had to take my hands out of the tub and wipe the
+suds off when Johnnie came to tell me that the rag-man was on the
+street. He was just turning the corner by the Wylies when I got to the
+front gate. But whether we washed on Monday I can't think. It rained
+that Monday, or the week before, and we had to wait till Tuesday; but
+which it was I couldn't say. I was in such a whirl fitting Artemas off,
+and much as ever I made him hear; and he wasn't the right man after all,
+for he wouldn't give more than a cent and a half a pound for the papers,
+and Mrs. Carruthers got two cents. She could not remember what was his
+day for coming, but agreed to send him if she should see him again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Carruthers sent the rag-man to-day; but I can't say much for the
+bargain, though he was a different man from the one that came Monday,
+and it seems it was Monday. He agreed to give me the same he gave Mrs.
+Carruthers,--two cents a pound. And I had a lot of newspapers,--all the
+papers Artemas has been taking through the winter; for he doesn't like
+me to take them for kindlings, says he would rather pay separate for
+kindlings, as I might burn the wrong one. And there were the papers that
+came around his underclothes and inside the packing boxes he has taken
+away. So I expected to make something; but he gave me no more than
+forty-five cents! He weighed them, and said himself there were thirty
+pounds. That ought to have come to sixty cents at least, according
+to my arithmetic. But he made out it was all right, and had them all
+packed up, and went off, though I followed him out to the gate and told
+him that it didn't amount to no more than I might have got from the
+other man at a cent and a half. He said it was all they were worth; that
+he wished he could get as much for them. Then I asked him why he took
+the trouble to come for them, under the circumstances. But by that time
+he was off and down the street.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was just sitting at the window this morning, and there were Mr. and
+Mrs. Peebles walking down the street,--he on one side and she on the
+other. I do wonder why they didn't go on the same side! If they hadn't
+got so far past the gate, I'd have asked them. I never heard there was
+any quarrel between them, and it was just as muddy this side of the
+street as that. They have been spending their winters in the city
+lately, and perhaps it's some new fashion.
+
+I declare it's worth while to sit at the window now and then, and see
+what is going on. I'm usually so busy at the back of the house, I don't
+know. But now Lavinia has taken to going to school with the boys, and
+they are willing to take care of her, half my work seems taken out of my
+hands. Not that she was much in the way for a girl of four, but she
+might slip out of the gate at any time, as there are so many of those
+grinding organs around with their monkeys.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Carruthers was in yesterday afternoon, and she said the Peebles
+were looking up the numbers on the doors to find the Wylies. They got
+puzzled because the numbers go up one side of the street and down the
+other, and they haven't but just been put on. And it seems that up in
+the city they have them go across. It does appear to me shiftless in our
+town officers, when they undertook to have the streets numbered as they
+do elsewhere, that they didn't number them the same way. But I can't see
+but our way is as good, and more sensible than having to cross a muddy
+street to look up the next number.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Artemas has been gone a whole week. I told him I would put down the most
+important things in a diary, and then he can look at it, if he has time,
+when he comes home. He thinks it is a more sensible way than writing
+letters every week.
+
+He expects to be up and down in Texas, and perhaps across the mountains;
+and in those lawless countries letters would not stand much
+chance,--maybe they wouldn't ever reach him, after I'd had the trouble
+of writing them. There's the expense of stamps too,--not so very much
+for one letter, but it counts up.
+
+Nothing worries me more than getting a letter, unless it's having a
+telegraph come,--and that does give one a start. But even that's sooner
+over and quicker read; while for a letter, it's long, and it takes a
+good while to get to the end. I feel it might be a kind of waste of time
+to write in my diary; but not more than writing letters, and it saves
+the envelopes and hunting them up. I'm not likely to find much time for
+either, for the boys are fairly through their winter suits; if I can
+only keep them along while the spring hangs off so.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Norris was in yesterday, just as I was writing about the boys'
+suits, to know if I would let Martha off to work for her after the
+washing is over. I told her I didn't like to disoblige, but I couldn't
+see my way clear to get along without Martha. The boys ought to be
+having their spring suits this very minute, and Martha was calculating
+to make them this week; and they'd have to have their first wear of them
+Sundays for a while before they start on them for school. I never was so
+behindhand; but what with fitting off Artemas and the spring cleaning
+being delayed, I didn't seem to know how to manage. Martha is good at
+making over, and there are two very good coats of Artemas's that she
+would do the right thing by; while there was a good many who could scrub
+and clean as well as she,--there was that Nora that used to live at
+Patty's. But Mrs. Norris did not take to Nora. The Wylies tried her, but
+could make nothing out of her. I said I thought it would be hard to find
+the person Mrs. Wylie could get on with. Not that I ever knew anything
+about her till she came to live on our street last winter, but they do
+say she's just as hard on her own family; for there's a story that she
+won't let that pretty daughter of hers, Clara, marry Bob Prince's son,
+Larkin.
+
+Mrs. Norris said she didn't wonder, for Larkin Prince hadn't found
+anything to do since he came home. I thought there was enough to live
+upon in the Wylie family, even if Larkin didn't find something the first
+minute he'd got his education.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I can see that Mrs. Norris didn't take it well that I was not willing to
+give up Martha; but I don't really see why I should be the one to give
+up. But I must say I haven't got on as well with the work as I had
+hoped, Lavinia's going with the boys so much keeps her clothes half torn
+off her back, and I can't seem to see how to make her tidy. I was real
+ashamed when I went to lift her out of a mud-puddle yesterday outside
+the gate; and there was Clara Wylie looking as clean as a white lily,
+and she stopped to help her out. It seemed that Lavinia had left her
+boot in the last mud-puddle, and I would have liked to have gone through
+the ground. I hope it will be a lesson to Lavinia, for Miss Wylie
+oughtn't to have touched her with her hand. But she did, yellow gloves
+and all, and said it was dreadful walking now, the frost so late coming
+out of the ground, and she had quite envied Lavinia running across the
+fields after the boys. But Lavinia has taken to envying Miss Wylie, and
+wishes she could wear that kind of boots she has, with high heels that
+keep her out of the mud-puddles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am thinking of having my ruby cashmere colored over. I don't seem to
+feel like ripping it all up, pleatings and all; but Mrs. Peebles says
+it can be dipped just as well made up, and I needn't take out a seam.
+I might have it a kind of dark olive, like Mrs. Carruthers' dress.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have had a start! It is a letter from Artemas; nothing particular
+about himself, only I should say he was well. But he wants to take
+out a young man farther west with him,--somebody with something of an
+education, who understands chemicals or engineering, and he wants me to
+pick out somebody. There's my brother Sam, of course. I thought of him
+the first thing. But Artemas never took to Sam, though he is my brother.
+Still, I dare say he would do right by him. And Sam don't seem to find
+the work here that suits, and I hate to have him hanging round. But he
+don't know more than I about chemicals, as much as even what they are,
+though I dare say he could find out, for Sam is smart and always could
+make out if he chose to lay his hands to anything. And I dare say
+Artemas thought of Sam, and that is why he sent to me to give him a
+chance. From what he says it must be a pretty good chance, exactly what
+Sam would like if he knew anything about the business. I dare say he'd
+do quite as well as half the fellows who might go. He can be steady if
+he's a mind to.
+
+But I can't but think of Larkin Prince; how he's taken all the pains to
+get an education, and his father for him laying up money for the very
+purpose, and that pretty Clara Wylie waiting to be married till he
+should get something fit to do, and maybe her father wanting to marry
+her off to some rich man while she's waiting, when her heart is set on
+Larkin. And he'd be just the man for Artemas, seeing as he's been
+studying just such things.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It wasn't no use taking up the time writing in my diary, as Artemas must
+have a telegraph before night, and the boys home from school to know if
+they might go to the swamp after checkerberries, and Lavinia with them,
+and I let her go, clean apron and all, and I put on my bonnet to go over
+to Mrs. Prince's. It made my heart bump to think how much Sam would set
+on having the situation, and Artemas kind of expecting him; but I said
+to myself, if Larkin should be out of town, or anything, that would
+settle the matter for Sam.
+
+As it happened, who should I meet but Larkin just at the gate! and I
+asked him if he would turn back and step in with me for a minute. He
+looked kind of provoked, and I shouldn't wonder if he hadn't expected to
+meet Clara Wylie coming out of her gate just below, as it's natural she
+should at this time. But he came in, and I gave him Artemas's letter to
+read, for there wasn't anything in it except particulars of the work. He
+quite started as he read it, and then he looked at me inquiring, and I
+asked him if he had the kind of knowledge Artemas wanted. I supposed he
+might have it, as he'd been to the new schools. It told in the letter
+about the expenses, and what the pay would be, and where he would find
+the free pass, and that he'd have to telegraph right off, and perhaps he
+noticed he'd have to start to-night. Well, I guess he needn't care even
+to thank me; for that look in his face was enough, and I shan't forget
+it. He wanted to know was it Artemas thought of him. But before I could
+answer, he saw somebody out in the street, and went to rushing out, only
+he gave me another of those looks as he went, and said he'd see me
+before he sent the telegraph, and would take any message from me to
+Artemas.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I hadn't more than time to write this yesterday, when Mrs. Norris came
+in to inquire about some garden seeds, but I guess she expected to find
+out what Larkin Prince had been in for, for she was calling over at Mrs.
+Carruthers'. I offered her some squash seeds, and took her out the back
+way, through the garden, to show her how the squashes were likely to
+spread. Last summer they were all over the garden. It seems the only
+thing the boys let to grow.
+
+She hadn't more than gone when Larkin came in. It was all settled, and
+other things seemed to be settled too; for who should come in with him
+but Clara Wylie, crying and smiling all at once. She had to come and
+help Larkin to thank me because he had got the place. After he was gone
+she came back for a little cry. She didn't seem to wonder that Larkin
+was the one chosen, and supposed Artemas must have known all about him,
+she said, as well as the company he is working for. They probably had
+seen his name in the papers, she thought, when he graduated so honorably
+from the school.
+
+I didn't tell her that there wasn't any company; that Artemas never had
+time to read that kind of thing in the newspapers, and would not have
+noticed it if he had; and that he'd left it all to me.
+
+I can't but say after it was all settled I had a kind of a turn myself,
+to think that Sam might have gone just as well, and I had been standing
+in his way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I shall have to let down Lavinia's gowns full two inches this summer.
+Lucky I put tucks in them all last year. Mrs. Carruthers wanted me to
+finish them off with a frill; lucky I didn't, it would have been up to
+her ears this summer. As for the boys, I can take them in turn,--last
+year's clothes for the next boy all the way down, and Cyrus can have his
+father's. But it seems harder to fit out Lavinia. The ruby cashmere is
+as good for me as new; it is dipped.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I'm real sorry about the Jones's losing their cow; it comes hard for
+them. It's better for our potato patch, particularly if they do not have
+another. Cyrus ought to fence it in.
+
+Sam came in last night. He had heard that Larkin Prince was summoned off
+by a company out West, for work that would pay, and would set him up for
+years, and he had a free pass, and old Wylie had given his consent to
+his marrying Clara. Some people, he said, had luck come to them without
+trying for it, just standing round. There was he himself had been
+looking for just such work last year, and nobody had thought of him.
+
+       *      *       *       *       *
+
+I hope I wasn't hard on Sam. I couldn't help telling him if he'd gone up
+to the schools, as Larkin Prince did, and he might have done, he could
+have made himself fit for an engineer or a chemical agent. Well, it took
+him kind of surprised, and I agreed to go round this evening, when
+father is at home, and talk to father and mother about Sam's going to
+some of them schools. At least he might try; and, anyhow, it would get
+him out of the kind of company he's taken a fancy to.
+
+I must say I didn't think of how he'd feel about Clara Wylie; but, of
+course, her father would never have given Sam any encouragement more
+than Larkin. And as for Clara Wylie--well, I saw her look at Larkin
+that night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I don't know but I made a mistake in sending so many of his woollen
+socks to Artemas by Larkin Prince. Perhaps I had better have sent more
+of the cotton ones. Larkin said he would tell him we were all well, and
+how he found us. Lavinia had gone up to bed, and was hollering to me
+to come up to her, and Cyrus slung Silas's cap into the window, and it
+most hit Larkin; Silas came in after it through the window, and the rest
+of the boys were pounding on the barn door, where they were having a
+militia meeting, or some kind of a parade, with half the boys in town.
+So Artemas will know things goes on about as usual.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An excellent sermon from Mr. Jenkins today. I can't seem to think what
+it was about, to put it down; but we are all of us more and more pleased
+with him as a minister. You can't expect all things of any man; and if
+a minister preaches a good sermon twice a Sunday and perhaps at evening
+meeting, and goes around among the people as much as Mr. Jenkins, and
+holds meetings through the week, and Bible class every Friday evening,
+and sits by the bedside of the sick and the dying, and gives a hand in
+his own farming or a neighbor's, and stands on the committee for the
+schools, I don't know as you can expect much more of him.
+
+Mrs. Carruthers says there's a talk of the Peebles moving up to the city
+for good and all. I should think they might as well go as careening back
+and forth, spring and fall; though she says they will still go down to
+the seashore or up to the mountains, summers. When I had a home, I will
+say, I liked to stay in it.
+
+There, now! I do believe that I have not mentioned in my diary that our
+house is burned down, and much as ever we all got out alive, coming in
+the night so. I suppose I ought to have put it in as being one of the
+principal events; but somehow I have been so unsettled since the fire, I
+haven't seemed to think to write it down. And, of course, Artemas would
+see from the depot, the minute he arrived, that the house wasn't there,
+and he wouldn't need to wait and read about it in my diary; and I have
+been pretty busy getting set to rights again. Everything being burnt,
+there 's all the summer clothes to be made over again, except a few
+things I brought off in a bundle along with the diary. Still, it might
+have been better than writing about my neighbors, as I did about the
+Peebles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Jenkins came in as I was writing. He says that diaries are good
+things, and if you didn't put in only your thoughts in a sentimental
+kind of way, they'd be useful for posterity. I told him I didn't write
+for posterity, but for Artemas, instead of a letter. He was surprised
+I hadn't written him about the fire, as the news might reach him
+exaggerated. I could not help from laughing, for I don't see how it
+could be made out much worse,--the house burnt down, and the barn with
+the horse in it, and Cyrus's crop of squashes. Much as ever we got out
+alive, and I had to come to rooms--two pair, back. I did bring the diary
+out in my apron.
+
+Mr. Jenkins spoke of the insurance, and maybe Artemas might have
+something to say about that; but we talked it all over the night before
+he went away, and he spoke of the insurance being out, and he didn't
+think it worth while to renew; there never had been a fire, and it
+wasn't likely there would be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Carruthers came in to inquire when was a good time to try out soap.
+I told her I managed generally to do it when Artemas wasn't at home, as
+he was not partial to the smell in the house. But Mr. Carruthers never
+does go away, and she doesn't believe he'd notice it. I don't know but
+I'd rather have my husband coming and going like Artemas, instead of
+sticking around not noticing, especially if he was Mr. Carruthers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Clara Wylie has been with letters in her hands, and it seems she wrote
+to Larkin Prince all about our fire; how our boys dropped matches in the
+hay, and the fire spread to the house from the barn, and how we were
+waked up, and had to hurry out just as we were. I don't believe she told
+how the Wylies took us in that night, and found us these rooms at their
+aunt Marshall's till Artemas comes home. But it seems that Artemas has
+told Larkin it ain't no kind of consequence, the house burning down,
+because he never liked it facing the depot, and he'll be glad to build
+again, and has money enough for it, and can satisfy the neighbors if
+there's a complaint that our boys burned down all that side of the
+street, with being careless with their matches. And there was a note
+inclosed to me from Artemas. He says he'd had a kind of depressed time,
+when things were going wrong, but matters began to look up when Larkin
+Prince came, who had just the information needed. So it's just as well
+I didn't write about the fire. I hope Artemas don't talk too large about
+his earning so much; anyhow, I shall try to get along spending next to
+nothing, and earning what I can making buttonholes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I've made over my ruby cashmere for Lavinia, and I'm sorry now that
+I had it dyed over so dark, the olive is kind of dull for her; but I
+can't seem to lay my hand on anything else for her, and she must have
+something. Lucky it was lying on the chair, close by the door, so I
+brought it off from the fire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Artemas has come home.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK.
+
+I.
+
+
+"I don't see how we can ever get them back again," said Mr. Dyer.
+
+"Why should not we ask the 'grateful people'?" asked Jedidiah.
+
+To explain what Jedidiah and his father meant, I shall have to tell how
+it was Jedidiah came to have a Noah's Ark, and all about it, for it was
+a little odd.
+
+Jedidiah was the son of poor parents. His father lived in a small, neat
+house, and owned a little farm. It was not much of a place; but he
+worked hard, and raised vegetables upon it, mostly potatoes. But Mrs.
+Dyer liked string-beans and peas; so they had a few of these, and
+pumpkins, when the time came; but we have nothing to do with them at
+present. If I began to tell you what Mrs. Dyer liked, it would take a
+great while, because there are marrow-squashes and cranberry-beans,
+though she did not care so much for tomatoes; but vegetables do help
+out, and don't cost as much as butcher's meat, if you don't keep sheep;
+but hens Mrs. Dyer did keep. It was the potatoes that were most
+successful, for it was one summer when everybody's potatoes had failed.
+They had all kinds of diseases, especially at Spinville, near which Mr.
+Dyer lived. Some were rotten in the middle, some had specks outside;
+some were very large and bad, some were small and worse; and in many
+fields there were none at all. But Mr. Dyer's patch flourished
+marvellously. So, after he had taken in all he wanted for himself, he
+told his wife he was going to ask the people of Spinville to come and
+get what they wanted.
+
+"Now, Mr. Dyer!" said his wife. She did not say much else; but what she
+meant was, that if he had any potatoes to spare, he had better sell them
+than give them away. Mr. Dyer was a poor man; why should not he make a
+little money?
+
+But Mr. Dyer replied that he had no cart and horse to take the potatoes
+to Spinville with, and no time either. He had agreed to mow the deacon's
+off-lot, and he was not going to disappoint the deacon, even if he
+should get a couple of dollars by it; and he wasn't going to let his
+potatoes rot, when all Spinville was in want of potatoes. So Mr. Dyer
+set to work, and printed in large letters on a sheet of paper these
+words: "All persons in want of potatoes, apply to J. Dyer, Cranberry
+Lane, Wednesday, the fifteenth, after seven o'clock, A.M. Gratis."
+
+The last word was added after Mr. Dyer had pasted the notice against the
+town hall of Spinville; for so many people came up to bother him with
+questions as to how much he was going to ask for his potatoes, that he
+was obliged to add this by way of explanation, or he would never have
+got to the deacon's off-lot Tuesday morning.
+
+Wednesday morning, Mrs. Dyer sat by the front window, with her darning.
+She had persuaded Mr. Dyer to wait till Wednesday; for as for having all
+the people tramping through the yard when the clean clothes were out,
+she couldn't think of it; and she might as well get through the ironing,
+then she could have an eye on them. And how provoked they'd all be to
+come down all that way to Cranberry Hollow, to find only a bin of
+potatoes to divide among them all.
+
+The little shed was full of potatoes, Mr. Dyer answered. And he had no
+idea many people would come, just the poorer ones; and as long as he had
+any potatoes to spare, he was willing they should take them.
+
+But, sure enough, as Mrs. Dyer said, what a procession came! Poor Mrs.
+Jones's little girl, with a bag; Tom Scraggs, with two baskets; the
+minister's son, with a wheelbarrow; and even rich Mr. Jones, the
+selectman, with a horse and cart. Boys and girls, and old women, and
+middle-sized men, and every kind of a vehicle, from a tin tipcart to
+Mrs. Stubbs's carry-all.
+
+Well, let them come, thought Mrs. Dyer. It would just show Mr. Dyer she
+was right, and he didn't often find that out. She should be disturbed by
+them soon enough when they found out that there was not more than half a
+potato apiece, and like enough, not that. Pretty business of Mr. Dyer,
+to take to giving away, when he had not more than enough to put into his
+own mouth, to say nothing of Jedidiah's! So she went on darning and
+thinking. What was her surprise, all of a sudden, to hear only shouts
+of joy as the people returned round the corner of the house! Poor Mrs.
+Jones's little girl gave a scream of delight as she held up her bag full
+of potatoes; the minister's son had hard work to push along his full
+wheelbarrow; rich Mr. Jones was laughing from the top of his piled-up
+cart; Tom Scraggs was trying to get help in carrying his baskets. Such
+a laughing, such fun, was never heard in Spinville, which is a sober
+place. And they all nodded to Mrs. Dyer, and gave shouts for Mr. Dyer,
+and offered Jedidiah rides in all their carts, those that had them, and
+asked Mrs. Dyer what they could do for her in Spinville. And Jedidiah
+tried to tell his mother, through the open window, how the more they
+took the potatoes out of the bin, the more there were left in it; and
+how everybody had enough, and went away satisfied, and had filled their
+pockets; and even one of the boys was planning a quill popgun for sliced
+potato, such as the worst boys had not dreamed of all summer. He was a
+bad boy from the Meadow.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dyer!" said Mrs. Dyer, all day, and again when he came home
+at night.
+
+Of course the Spinville people thought a great deal from this time of
+Mr. Dyer; and there was a town council held to consider what they should
+do to express their feelings to him. He had declined six times being
+made selectman, and he did not want to ring the bell as sexton. There
+did not seem to be anything in the way of an office they could offer him
+that he would accept.
+
+At last Mr. Jones suggested that the best way to please the father was
+to give something to the son. "Something for Jedidiah!" exclaimed Mr.
+Jones. "The next time I go to New York, I'll go to a toy-shop; I'll buy
+something for Jedidiah."
+
+So he did. He came home with the Noah's Ark. It was a moderate-sized
+ark, painted blue, as usual, with red streaks, and a slanting roof, held
+down with a crooked wire. It was brought to Jedidiah, one evening, just
+as he was going to bed; so the crooked wire was not lifted, for Mrs.
+Dyer thought he had better go to bed at his time and get up early and
+look at his ark. But he could not sleep well, thinking of his ark. It
+stood by his bedside, and all night long he heard a great racket inside
+of it. There was a roaring and a grunting and a squeaking,--all kinds of
+strange noises. In the moonlight he thought he saw the roof move; if the
+wire had not been so crooked it surely would have opened. But it didn't,
+not till he took it downstairs, and Mrs. Dyer had got out her
+ironing-board, that the animals might be spread out upon it; then
+Jedidiah lifted the roof.
+
+What a commotion there was then! The elephant on the top, and his trunk
+stretched out; in a minute or two he would have unfastened the wire; the
+giraffe's long neck was stretched out; one dove flew away directly, and
+some crows sat on the eaves. Mr. and Mrs. Dyer and Jedidiah started
+back, while the elephant with his trunk helped out some of the smaller
+animals, who stepped into rows on the ironing-board as fast as they were
+taken out.
+
+The cows were mooing, the cats mewing, the dogs barking, the pigs
+grunting. Presently Noah's head appeared, and he looked round for his
+wife; and then came Shem and Ham and Japheth with their wives. They
+helped out some of the birds,--white, with brown spots,--geese, and
+ducks. It took the elephant and Noah and all his sons to get the horses
+out, plunging and curvetting as they were. Some sly foxes got out of
+themselves, leaping from the roof to the back of a kneeling camel.
+
+Jedidiah's eyes sparkled with joy. Mrs. Dyer sat with folded hands, and
+said, "Why, Mr. Dyer!" And Mr. Dyer occasionally helped a stray donkey,
+whose legs were caught, or a turkey fluttering on the edge. At last a
+great roaring and growling was heard at the bottom of the ark. The
+elephant nodded his trunk to the giraffe; the camel was evidently
+displeased; Noah and his sons stood together looking up at the roof.
+
+"It's the wild animals," said Jedidiah.
+
+"If they should get out," thought Mrs. Dyer; "all the wild tigers and
+the lions loose in the house!" And she looked round to see if the closet
+door were open for a place of retreat.
+
+Mr. Dyer stepped up and shut the roof of the ark. It was in time; for a
+large bear was standing on his hind legs on the back of a lion, and was
+looking out. Noah and his family looked much pleased; the elephants
+waved their trunks with joy; the camels stopped growling.
+
+"I don't wonder they are glad to get out," said Jedidiah. "I do believe
+they have been treading down those wild animals all night."
+
+Mrs. Dyer wondered what they should do with the rest. Come Tuesday she
+would want her ironing-board,--perhaps baking-day, to set the pies on.
+
+"They ought to have some houses to live in, and barns," said Jedidiah.
+Then it was Mr. Dyer had said they could never get them back into the
+ark; and Jedidiah had said, "We might ask the 'grateful people,'"--for
+this was the name the inhabitants of Spinville went by in the Dyer
+family ever since the time of the potatoes.
+
+The story of their coming for the potatoes had been told over and over
+again; then how the "people" felt so grateful to Mr. Dyer. Mr. Dyer said
+he was tired of hearing about it. Mrs. Dyer thought if they meant to do
+anything to let Mr. Dyer see they were grateful, they had better not
+talk so much about it. But Jedidiah called them the "grateful people;"
+and it was he that caught the first glimpse of the procession when it
+came up with the ark, Mr. Jones at the head. He had some faith in them;
+so it was he that thought there ought to be a village built for Noah and
+his family; and when Mr. Dyer had some doubts about building it he
+suggested, "Let's ask the 'grateful people.'"
+
+What they did will be told in another chapter.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+ABOUT THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE AND THE WILD BEASTS.
+
+
+That very afternoon there was a great rush to see Jedidiah's Noah's Ark,
+and there was immense enthusiasm about it. Some brave ones opened the
+roof and looked in upon the growling wild animals. The girls liked the
+lambs the best; the boys were delighted with the foxes that jumped on
+the edge of the boat that formed the ark.
+
+In a day or two there was a flourishing little village built on a smooth
+place on the other side of Mr. Dyer's house. The minister's daughter had
+brought a little toy village she had with red roofs, and one of the men
+scooped out the houses, which were made of one block of wood, but could
+now accommodate Noah and his family, and each one picked out a house to
+match the color of his garments.
+
+Tom Stubbs built a barn of wooden bricks for the larger animals, and
+Lucy Miles brought a pewter bird-cage, with a door that would open and
+shut, for the birds. The elephant knocked out a brick with his trunk as
+soon as he went into the barn, but that made a good window for him to
+look out of. Jedidiah himself made the loveliest coop for the hen; and
+the boys had a nice time over a pond they dug in the mud, for the ducks.
+
+Indeed, it occupied Spinville for some time; and Noah, Shem, and Ham
+did not sit down much, but looked very busy. There was a fence built
+round the whole village, high enough to keep in the elephants and the
+giraffes, though they could look over. There was a bit of pasture-land
+shut in for the cows, who fell to nibbling as soon as they were put in
+it. A clover-leaf lasted one of the sheep two days. The tinman sent
+some little tin dippers no bigger than a thimble, and the children were
+delighted to see the animals drink. The boys handed one of the dippers
+into the ark for the tigers. The giraffes found a bush just high enough
+for them to eat from. The doves sat on the eaves of the ark, and
+Agamemnon brought some pickled olives, as he had no olive-branch for
+them.
+
+The children were never tired of seeing the camels kneel and rise. They
+made them carry little burdens,--stones that were to be cleared from the
+field, chips from the henhouse. Sometimes the camels growled; then the
+children took off a chip or two from their burdens,--the last ounce,
+they thought.
+
+The "grateful people" sent a large umbrella, used by the umbrella-maker
+for a sign, that could be opened over the whole village in case of a
+rain; and the toy-shop man sent a tin teapot, though Mrs. Dyer did not
+venture to give Noah and his family any real tea; but it was a very
+pretty teapot, with a red flower upon it. Mrs. Noah liked it, though it
+was almost large enough for the whole family to get into.
+
+All this was not the work of a day, by any means. First, all Spinville
+had to come and look at the things, and then it had to discuss the whole
+affair. Mrs. Dyer's knitting got on bravely, for so many of her friends
+came in to sit in her best parlor, and talk it all over. Mrs. Dyer
+agreed with them; she thought it was all very strange. She should be
+thankful if only the tigers would never get out. She did not like having
+tigers running in and out of the house, even if they were no bigger than
+your thimble. She thought it quite likely some of the boys would let
+them out some day; but it was no use looking forward. So, day by day,
+the people came to look at the wonderful village. There was always
+something new to see. At last, one of the deacons declared Jedidiah
+ought to charge so much a sight. It was as good a show as the menagerie,
+any day; and everybody was willing to give ten cents for that, children
+half-price.
+
+This made great talk. Should Jedidiah charge for the show, or not? Mr.
+Dyer would have nothing to say about it. Mrs. Dyer thought they might as
+well; then there would be fewer children in her front yard picking at
+the currants. At last it was settled that Spinville should pay two cents
+a sight, children half-price, and strangers could see the village for
+nothing; but all those who had contributed anything towards the ark
+should have a right to visit it with their families, without paying.
+There was a great rush after this to see who was going to pay. It turned
+out only the schoolmaster's and doctor's families had to buy tickets;
+and when it came to that, Mr. Dyer said he would not let them pay
+anything. So Jedidiah did not gain much by it; but he and a few of his
+friends made some tickets, all the same, printing on them "Noah's Ark.
+Admittance, two cents; children, half-price;" and a good many children
+bought tickets for the fun of it.
+
+At last there came a crash. One afternoon, Tim Stubbs, in setting up a
+new pump, gave a knock to the ark, and sent the whole thing over. The
+roof snapped open, and out came all the wild beasts. The hyenas laughed,
+the lions roared, the bears growled, and the tigers leaped about to see
+whom they could devour; Noah jumped up on top of the pump; the elephant
+knocked out a side of the barn, to see what was the matter; all the
+wives ran for the houses, and there was a general confusion. A leopard
+seized a young chicken. Mrs. Dyer came out with a rolling-pin in her
+hand. Tim and Tom Stubbs declared they would catch the animals, if
+Jedidiah would only find something safe to put them in.
+
+"If we only had a cave!" exclaimed Lucy Miles, who had hidden behind the
+kitchen door.
+
+Tim and Tom Stubbs caught one of the tigers, just as Jedidiah appeared
+with his mother's bandbox. He had thrown his mother's caps and her
+Sunday bonnet on the spare-room floor. They shut the tiger up in the
+bandbox, then found one of the bears climbing up the pump after Noah.
+Jedidiah brought a strong string, and tied him to a post. All the rest
+of the boys ran away at first, but ventured to come back and join in the
+search for the rest of the beasts.
+
+The hunt grew quite exciting. One of the boys, who had read African
+travels, prepared a leash of twine, and made a lasso, and with this he
+succeeded in catching the two hyenas. Then no one knew if all the beasts
+were caught or no. The boy who had read the travels could tell a long
+list of wild animals that ought to be in the ark. There was the
+rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the jaguar; there was the leopard, the
+panther, the ocelot. Mrs. Dyer put her hands up to her ears in dismay.
+She could not bear to hear any more of their names; and to think she
+might meet them any day, coming in at the wood-house door, or running
+off with one of the chickens!
+
+But the Stubbses thought very likely all these animals never were in
+this ark at all, though they might have been in the original Noah's Ark.
+This was only a play ark, after all, and you could not expect to find
+every animal in it. The minister's wife said she did not know what you
+should expect. The ark was quite a different one from any she had seen.
+She had bought them for her children, year in and year out, and she had
+never seen anything of the sort. You might expect a hippopotamus, or any
+kind of beast. Those she had bought were always of wood, and the legs
+broke off easily. You could mend them with Spalding's Glue; but even
+Spalding was not as good as it used to be, and you could not depend
+upon it.
+
+Meanwhile the hunt went on. The Spinville people began to be sorry they
+had ever bought a Noah's Ark. They had expected nothing of the sort. At
+last the two leopards were found,--beautiful creatures, who lashed their
+tails wildly; and before long, two hippopotami were discovered in the
+duck-pond, wallowing in their native element. They were very fierce and
+wild, and were caught with great difficulty. These were put in the
+bandbox with the others. It was a strong, old-fashioned box; but it was
+feared it would not last long for the wild beasts. Jedidiah tied it up
+with some twine, and it was put for the present in the spare-room
+closet.
+
+Mrs. Dyer did not sleep well that night, though her doors had been shut
+all day. She dreamed she heard lions all the night long, and was sure a
+rhinoceros could get in at the window. Why had Mr. Dyer ever been so
+generous with his potatoes? Why had he invited all the people to come?
+Of what use had the Noah's Ark been? Jedidiah had got along without toys
+before; now his head was turned. Better for him to amuse himself digging
+potatoes, or seeing to the squashes, than meddling with the beasts.
+
+And there were the Spinville boys round before breakfast. They were
+there, indeed, and began again their search for the beasts. The girls
+sat at the chamber windows, watching the chase. Under a cabbage-leaf,
+fast asleep, the stray tiger was found. The boy learned in Natural
+History went over the terrible list of all the fierce animals. "Yes,
+there were ocelots and cougars and jaguars, peculiarly shy and
+stealthy in approaching their prey," so the book said. "There was the
+chibiguasu----" But Jedidiah said he didn't believe _his_ Noah
+cared for such out-of-the-way beasts; they must have come in since his
+ark. They had enough to do to catch the regular wild animals, and these
+at last they found in some number. They were all seized, and with
+difficulty put into a wooden lozenge-box. There was great delight; there
+must be all; the ark surely could have held no more. Lions, tigers,
+leopards, panthers, lynxes, wildcats,--all the animals necessary for
+a respectable ark, all in twos.
+
+But, oh horror! a jaguar was discovered, also, at the last moment just
+before school. One jaguar, and there must be another somewhere. The one
+found answered the description completely: "the body yellow, marked with
+open black figures, considerable variety in the marking." A stray jaguar
+in Spinville! so fierce a beast! No one could be sure of his footsteps.
+Noah, his sons and their wives, had not been unmoved. Their satisfaction
+had been great. They had carried water to the bears, and had looked much
+pleased; and now they shook their heads at seeing only one jaguar.
+
+"I think they must be all caught but that one jaguar," said Jedidiah.
+"They look satisfied, and are going about their daily work; and it is
+time we found some place for the wild beasts. They will come through
+mother's bandbox before long."
+
+The boys went to school. There was great consultation all that day,
+which ended in Tom Stubbs bringing a squirrel-cage. It was just the
+thing, for the wires were near enough to keep the animals in, and
+everybody could have a look at them. But how were they to be got into
+the squirrel-cage? There came a new question. Tim Stubbs remembered he
+had often caught a butterfly under his hat, and a very handsome
+butterfly, too, and he was sure he had him; but just as he lifted the
+brim of the hat to show the other fellows that he was really there, the
+butterfly would be off.
+
+Happily there was no afternoon school, and a grand council of the
+boys was held, assisted by some of the selectmen. The beasts in the
+lozenge-box were easily disposed of, for it had a sliding cover, which
+was dexterously raised high enough to let the beasts all into the
+squirrel-cage. Then handy Tim Stubbs punched a hole in the bandbox
+opposite to the entrance of the squirrel-cage, and one by one the
+leopards and the rest were allowed to make their way into the wiry
+prison. The tiger made a dash, but in vain; he was imprisoned like the
+rest.
+
+This is our last news from Spinville.
+
+It is more than a month since the Spinville stage set out on its weekly
+trip for that place. It was an old stage; the horses were old, the
+harness was old, the driver was old. It is not then to be wondered
+at that in crossing the bridge on the old road, which is so little
+travelled that it is never kept in repair, the old wheel was caught in
+a chink between the boards, the old coach tumbled over, the driver was
+thrown from his seat and broke his leg, the horses fell on their knees,
+and the whole concern was made a complete wreck.
+
+Now, the stage-driver was the owner of the old coach and team. He had
+always said the thing did not pay; he would give it all up. Indeed, he
+only had driven to Spinville once a week to see the folks himself.
+Nobody ever went there, and nobody ever came away, except once a year
+Mr. Jones, and he had a team of his own. So there is no communication
+with Spinville. That a jaguar is loose is the latest news.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+CARRIE'S THREE WISHES.
+
+
+Carrie Fraser was a great trouble to her mother, because she was always
+wishing for something she had not got.
+
+"The other girls always have things that I don't," she complained to her
+mother. Her mother tried to explain to Carrie that she had a great many
+things the other girls didn't have.
+
+"But they are not always wishing for my things, just as I wish for
+theirs."
+
+"That is because they are not such 'teasers' as you are," her mother
+would reply. "You do not hear them from morning till night teasing for
+things they have not got."
+
+Another thing in Carrie troubled her mother very much. She used a
+great many extravagant phrases. She was not satisfied with saying even
+"perfectly lovely," "splendid," "excruciatingly jolly." Her mother might
+have permitted these terms, and was used to hearing the other girls use
+them; but Carrie got hold of the strangest expressions and phrases, I am
+afraid to put them into this story; for every boy and girl is perhaps
+already too familiar with such, and I might only spread the use of them.
+
+I will mention that "bang-up" and "bumptious," and that class of
+expressions were her favorites, and the best-educated boy or girl will
+be able to imagine the rest. This story will show how a careless use of
+words brought Carrie to grief, and taught her a severe lesson.
+
+One day, as usual, she had been complaining, and wishing she could have
+everything she wanted. Her mother said: "You remember the old story of
+the old couple who had their three wishes granted, and how they never
+got any good from it."
+
+"But that was because they acted like such geese," exclaimed Carrie. "I
+could never have been so elephantinely idiotic! First, they wasted one
+wish, for a black pudding."
+
+"That is a sausage," said her mother.
+
+"Yes, they asked for a common, every-day sausage to come down the
+chimney; then they got into a fight, and wished it would settle on one
+of their noses; and then they had to waste their last wish, by wishing
+it off again! It is too bad to have such luck come to such out-and-out
+idiots."
+
+Mrs. Fraser was just setting out for the village street, to order the
+dinner. The Governor was expected to pass through the place, and was to
+be met at the Town Hall. Jimmy, the only son in the family, had gone off
+to see the show.
+
+"Now, if he were a real, genuine governor," said Carrie, "like a prince
+in a fairytale, you would go and beseech him to grant your wishes. You
+would fall on your knees, or something, and he would beg you to rise,
+and your lovely daughter should have all that she wished."
+
+"I am afraid you are very foolish," sighed Mrs. Fraser; "but I will see
+the Governor. Perhaps he can advise what is best."
+
+It seemed to Carrie as if her mother were gone a great while. "She might
+have got six dinners!" she exclaimed to herself. "How tiresome! I wish I
+had gone down myself, anyway. All the girls and boys have gone, and I
+might have seen the Governor."
+
+But she passed the time in rocking backward and forward in a
+rocking-chair; for to her other faults Carrie added that of laziness,
+and when the other girls had gone down town, and had urged her to go
+with them, she had been quite too lazy to go for her hat or to hunt up
+her boot button-hook.
+
+"It seems as if Jimmy might have come back to tell about things," she
+went on. "Oh dear me! if I had only a chariot and four to go down with,
+and somebody to dress me and find my boots and my hat and my gloves,
+then it would have been worth while to go. I mean to make out a list of
+wishes, in case somebody should grant me the power to have them."
+
+She took out a little blank-book from her pocket, and began to write
+down:--
+
+"1. A chariot and four, man to drive, striped afghan, etc.
+
+"2. Maid to find and put on hat, boots, etc.
+
+"3. Plenty of hats, boots, and gloves for the maid to put on, and so
+that they could be found when wanted."
+
+"That would be bully!" said Carrie, interrupting herself. "If I had
+gloves in every drawer and on every shelf, I should not have to be
+looking for them. I might have a hat on every peg in the house except
+what Jimmy uses. I might have a sack over the back of every chair, and
+gloves in the pockets of each. The boots could be in each corner of the
+room and on all the top shelves. But boot-hooks! there's the stunner!
+Where could one find boot-buttoners enough? They do get out of the way
+so! I should have six in every drawer, one in each pocket, half a dozen
+in Mamma's basket, a row on the mantelpiece--on all the mantelpieces.
+Then perhaps I could do without a maid; at least, save her up till I
+grow older. Let's see. That makes three wishes. They generally have
+three. If I strike out the maid, I can think of something else. Suppose
+I say something to eat, then. Chocolate creams! I never had enough yet."
+
+At this moment Mrs. Fraser returned, looking quite heated and
+breathless. She had to fling herself into a chair by the window to
+recover strength enough to speak, and then her words came out in gasps.
+
+Carrie did leave her rocking-chair and tried fanning her mother, for she
+saw she had something to say.
+
+"What is it? What have you seen? Have you got something slam-bang for
+me? Is the Governor coming here? Couldn't you raise any dinner?"
+
+Carrie's questions came out so fast that her mother never could have
+answered them, even with the breath of a Corliss engine; much less,
+panting as she was now.
+
+"Yes, I saw him; I managed to see him," she gasped out. "The guns were
+firing, the cannon were booming, the bells were ringing----"
+
+"Oh! I dare say! I dare say!" cried Carrie, eager to hear more. "I could
+hear them up here. That was not worth going to town for. What did the
+Governor say?"
+
+"My dear! my dear!" panted Mrs. Fraser, "he said you could have your
+three wishes."
+
+"What! The chariot and four (that means horses), the maid, and the
+boot-hooks,--no, the maid was scratched out,--not the chocolates?" asked
+Carrie, in wonder.
+
+"No, no! I don't know what you mean!" said Mrs. Fraser; "but you can
+have three wishes; and I have hurried home, for they are to be told as
+the clock strikes twelve,--one to-day, one to-morrow, one the next
+day,--the moment the clock strikes, and I am only just in time. You are
+to wish, and you will have just what you wish."
+
+Both Carrie and her mother looked at the clock. The hand was just
+approaching twelve. Carrie could hear a little "click" that always came
+from inside the clock before it struck.
+
+"I have written out my wishes," she hurried to say; "but I don't want
+the chariot yet, because everybody is coming back from town. And I don't
+want any more hats and boots just now. But, oh! I do want some chocolate
+creams, and I wish this room was 'chock full of them.'"
+
+As she spoke the clock struck; and when it stopped she could speak no
+more, for the room was as full of chocolate creams as it could hold.
+They came rattling down upon her head, filling in all the crannies of
+the room. They crowded into her half-open mouth; they filled her
+clutching hands. Luckily, Mrs. Fraser was sitting near the open window,
+and the chocolate creams pushed her forward upon the sill. There were
+two windows looking upon the piazza. One was made of glass doors that
+were shut; the other, fortunately, was quite low; and Mrs. Fraser seated
+herself on the edge, and succeeded in passing her feet over to the other
+side, a torrent of chocolate creams following her as she came. She then
+turned to see if she could help Carrie. Carrie was trying to eat her way
+toward the window, and stretched out her arms to her mother, who seized
+her, and with all her strength pulled her through the window.
+
+"They are bully!" exclaimed Carrie, as soon as she was free. "They are
+the freshest I ever ate. Golumptious!"
+
+"Oh, Carrie," said her mother, mournfully, "how can you use such
+expressions now, when you have wasted your opportunity in such an
+extravagant wish?"
+
+"What! A whole roomful of chocolate creams do you consider a waste?"
+exclaimed Carrie. "Why, we shall be envied of all our neighbors; and,
+Mamma, you have been sighing over our expenses, and wishing that Jimmy
+and I could support you. Do not you see that we can make our fortune
+with chocolate creams? First, let us eat all we want before telling
+anybody; then let us give some to choice friends, and we will sell the
+rest."
+
+All the time she was talking Carrie was putting in her hand for
+chocolate creams and cramming one after another. Mrs. Fraser, too, did
+not refuse to taste them. How could they ever get into the parlor again,
+unless they were eaten up?
+
+"I am sure we can make quite a fortune," Carrie went on. "As soon as
+Jimmy comes home we can calculate how much it will be. The last time I
+was in Boston I gave fifteen cents for a quarter of a pound, and there
+were just thirteen chocolate creams. Now, see. In my two hands I can
+hold fourteen; now, how many times that do you suppose there are in the
+room?"
+
+Mrs. Fraser could not think. Carrie was triumphant.
+
+"Jimmy will know how to calculate, for he knows how many feet and inches
+there are in the room. If not, he can measure by the piazza; and we can
+row the chocolate creams out, and see how many go to a foot, and then we
+can easily find out. Of course, we shall sell them cheaper than they do
+in Boston, and so there will be a rush for them. It will be bully!"
+
+"I am glad we happened to take this rocking-chair out on the piazza this
+morning," said Mrs. Fraser, languidly seating herself. "I don't see how
+we shall ever get into the parlor again."
+
+"Jimmy and I will eat our way in fast enough," said Carrie, laughing;
+and Jimmy at that moment appeared with two boy friends, whom he had
+brought home to dinner.
+
+They were all delighted when they understood the situation, and had soon
+eaten a little place by the window, inside the room.
+
+"I quite forgot to buy any dinner," exclaimed Mrs. Fraser, starting up.
+"I meant to have ordered a leg of mutton as I went down, and now it is
+too late; and eggs for a pudding. Jimmy will have to go down----"
+
+"Oh, the chocolate creams will do!" exclaimed Carrie. "Don't you see,
+there's our first saving, and my wish does not turn out so extravagant,
+after all. The boys will be glad to have chocolate creams for dinner,
+I'm sure."
+
+The boys all said they would, as far as they could, when their mouths
+were so full.
+
+"We must put out an advertisement," said Carrie, at last, as soon as she
+could stop to speak: "'Chocolate creams sold cheap!' I guess we won't
+give any away. We may as well make all we can. It will be geminy!
+Suppose we look up some boxes and baskets, Jimmy, to sell them in; and
+you boys can go to the gate and tell people there are chocolate creams
+for sale."
+
+But all the boxes and baskets were soon filled, and only a little space
+made in the room. Jimmy pulled out the other rocking-chair that Carrie
+had been sitting in, and she rested herself for a while.
+
+"I declare, I never thought before I could eat enough chocolate creams;
+but they are a trifle cloying."
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Fraser, "if you had not said 'chock full;' if you
+had said 'a great many,' or 'a trunkful,' or something of that sort."
+
+"But I meant 'chock full,'" insisted Carrie.
+
+"I did not mean quite up to the ceiling. I didn't suppose that was what
+'chock' meant. Now we know."
+
+A great shouting was heard. All the boys of the town were gathering, and
+quite a crowd of people seemed coming near.
+
+Mrs. Fraser was a widow, and there was no man in the house. Jimmy was
+the nearest approach to a man that she could depend upon; and here he
+was, leading a band of boys! She sent one of the boys she knew the best
+for Mr. Stetson, the neighboring policeman, who came quickly, having
+already seen the crowd of boys flocking to the house.
+
+Carrie was trying to sell off her boxes for fifteen, ten, even five
+cents; but the crowd could not be easily appeased, for the boys could
+see across the windows the chocolate creams closely packed. "The room is
+chock full!" they exclaimed.
+
+Mr. Stetson examined the premises. "You'll find it hard work to get
+them chocolates out in a week, even if you set all the boys on them. I'd
+advise letting them in one by one to fill their pockets, each to pay
+a cent."
+
+Even Carrie assented to this, and a line was formed, and boys let in
+through the window. They ate a way to the door that led into the entry,
+so that it could be opened and the room could be entered that way. The
+boys now went in at the window and came out at the door, eating as they
+went and filling their pockets. Carrie could not but sigh at thought of
+the Boston chocolates, more than a cent apiece! But the boys ate, and
+then the girls came and ate; but with night all had to leave, at last.
+It was possible to shut the window and lock it, and shut the door for
+the night, after they had gone.
+
+"I don't see why the chocolates should not stay on there weeks and
+weeks," said Carrie to her mother. "Of course, they won't be so fresh,
+day after day; but they will be fresher than some in the shops. I'm
+awfully tired of eating them now, and feel as if I never wanted to see
+a chocolate cream again; but I suppose I shall feel different after a
+night's sleep, and I think Mr. Stetson is wrong in advising us to sell
+them so low."
+
+Mrs. Fraser suggested she should like to go in the parlor to sit.
+
+"But to-morrow is the day of the picnic," said Carrie, "and we shall be
+out-of-doors anyhow. I will take chocolate creams for my share. But,
+dear me! my dress is on the sofa,--my best dress. You were putting the
+ruffles in!"
+
+"I told you, my dear, one of the last things, to take it upstairs," said
+Mrs. Fraser.
+
+"And there it is, in the furthest corner of the room," exclaimed Carrie,
+"with all those chocolates scrouching on it. I'll tell you. I'll get Ben
+Sykes in early. He eats faster than any of the other boys, and he shall
+eat up toward my dress. He made a great hole in the chocolates this
+afternoon. I will have him come in early, and we don't go to the picnic
+till after twelve o'clock."
+
+"And at twelve o'clock you have your second wish," said Mrs. Fraser.
+
+"Yes, Mamma," said Carrie; "and I have already decided what it shall
+be,--a chariot and four. It will come just in time to take me to the
+picnic."
+
+"Oh, my dear Carrie," said her mother, "do think what you are planning!
+Where would you keep your chariot and the four horses?"
+
+"Oh! there will be a man to take care of them," said Carrie; "but I will
+think about it all night carefully----"
+
+At that very moment she went to sleep.
+
+The next morning early, Carrie was downstairs. She found she could eat
+a few more chocolate creams, and Jimmy was in the same condition. She
+proposed to him her plan of keeping the chocolates still for sale, but
+eating a way to the sofa in the corner, to her best dress.
+
+Ben Sykes came early, and a few of the other boys. The rest were kept at
+home, because it turned out they had eaten too many and their parents
+would not let them come.
+
+A good many of the older people came with baskets and boxes, and bought
+some to carry away, they were so delicious and fresh.
+
+Meanwhile Ben Sykes was eating his way toward the corner. It was very
+hard making any passage, for as fast as he ate out a place others came
+tumbling in from the top. Carrie and Jimmy invented "a kind of a tunnel"
+of chairs and ironing-boards, to keep open the passage; and other boys
+helped eat, as they were not expected to pay.
+
+But the morning passed on. Mrs. Fraser tried to persuade Carrie to wear
+another dress; but she had set her mind on this. She had a broad blue
+sash to wear with it, and the sash would not go with any other dress.
+
+She watched the clock, she watched Ben; she went in under the
+ironing-boards, to help him eat, although she had begun to loathe the
+taste of the chocolate creams.
+
+Ben was splendid. He seemed to enjoy more the more he ate. Carrie
+watched him, as he licked them and ate with glowing eyes.
+
+"Oh, Ben," Carrie suddenly exclaimed, "you can't seem to eat them fast
+enough. I wish your throat were as long as from one end of this room to
+the other."
+
+At this moment the clock was striking.
+
+Carrie was ready to scream out her second wish; but she felt herself
+pushed in a strange way. Ben was on all fours in front of her, and now
+he pushed her back, back. His neck was so long that while his head was
+still among the chocolates, at the far corner of the room, his feet were
+now out of the door.
+
+Carrie stood speechless. She had lost her wish by her foolish
+exclamation. The faithful Ben, meanwhile, was flinging something through
+the opening. It was her dress, and she hurried away to put it on.
+
+When she came down, everybody was looking at Ben. At first he enjoyed
+his long neck very much. He could stand on the doorstep and put his head
+far out up in the cherry trees and nip off cherries, which pleased both
+the boys and himself.
+
+[Illustration: He enjoyed his long neck very much.]
+
+Instead of a chariot and four, Carrie went off in an open wagon, with
+the rest of the girls. It made her feel so to see Ben, with his long
+neck, that she got her mother's permission to spend the night with the
+friend in whose grounds the picnic was to be held.
+
+She carried baskets of chocolate creams, and she found numbers of the
+girls, who had not eaten any, who were delighted with them, and promised
+to come the next day, to buy and carry away any amount of them. She
+began to grow more cheerful, though she felt no appetite, and instead
+of eating everything, as she always did at picnics, she could not even
+touch Mattie Somers's cream-pie nor Julia Dale's doughnuts. She stayed
+as late as she could at her friend Mattie's; but she felt she must get
+home in time for her third wish, at twelve o'clock.
+
+Would it be necessary for her to wish that Ben Sykes's neck should be
+made shorter? She hoped she might find that it had grown shorter in the
+night; then she could do as she pleased about her third wish.
+
+She still clung to the desire for the chariot and four. If she had it,
+she and her mother and Jimmy could get into it and drive far away from
+everybody,--from Ben Sykes and his long neck, if he still had it,--and
+never see any of them any more. Still, she would like to show the
+chariot and four to her friends; and perhaps Ben Sykes would not mind
+his long neck, and would be glad to keep it and earn money by showing
+himself at a circus.
+
+So she reached home in the middle of the morning, and found the whole
+Sykes family there, and Ben, still with his long neck. It seems it had
+given him great trouble in the night. He had to sleep with his head in
+the opposite house, because there was not room enough on one floor at
+home. Mrs. Sykes had not slept a wink, and her husband had been up
+watching, to see that nobody stepped on Ben's neck. Ben himself appeared
+in good spirits; but was glad to sit in a high room, where he could
+support his head.
+
+Carrie suggested her plan that Ben should exhibit himself. He, no doubt,
+could earn a large sum. But his mother broke out against this. He never
+could earn enough to pay for what he ate, now his throat was so long.
+Even before this he could swallow more oatmeal than all the rest of the
+family put together, and she was sure that now even Mr. Barnum himself
+could not supply him with food enough. Then she burst into a flood of
+tears, and said she had always hoped Ben would be her stay and support;
+and now he could never sleep at home, and everybody looking after him
+when he went out, and the breakfast he had eaten that very morning was
+enough for six peoples' dinners.
+
+They were all in the parlor, where the chocolate creams were partially
+cleared away. They were in a serried mass on two sides of the room,
+meeting near the centre, with the underground passage, through which Ben
+had worked his way to Carrie's dress. Mrs. Fraser had organized a band
+to fill pasteboard boxes, which she had obtained from the village, and
+she and her friends were filling them, to send away to be sold, as all
+the inhabitants of the town were now glutted with chocolate creams.
+
+At this moment Carrie heard a click in the clock. She looked at her
+mother, and as the clock struck she said steadily, "I wish that Ben's
+neck was all right again."
+
+Nobody heard her, for at that moment Ben Sykes started up, saying: "I'm
+all right, and I have had enough. Come along home!" And he dragged his
+family away with him.
+
+Carrie fell into her mother's arms. "I'll never say 'chock full' again!"
+she cried; "and I'll always be satisfied with what I have got, for I can
+never forget what I suffered in seeing Ben's long neck!"
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+"WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"
+
+
+This was the cry in the Wilson family as they sat down to dinner.
+
+"It is odd," said Aunt Harriet. "I have noticed they are usually ready
+for their dinner. They may be out of the way at other times, but they
+always turn up at their meals."
+
+"They were here at breakfast," said Jane, the eldest daughter.
+
+"I helped Jack about his Latin before he went to school," said the
+mother of the family.
+
+"They are probably at the Pentzes'," said Gertrude. "If our boys are not
+there, the Pentzes are here; and as long as the Pentzes are not here, I
+suppose our boys are there."
+
+"I should say they were not likely to get so good a dinner at the
+Pentzes' as we have here," said Aunt Harriet, as a plate was set before
+her containing her special choice of rare-done beef, mashed potato,
+stewed celery, and apple-sauce.
+
+"Who are the Pentzes?" said Mr. Wilson, looking round the table to see
+if everybody was helped.
+
+"He is a painter and glazier," said Aunt Harriet, "and the mother takes
+in washing."
+
+"They are good boys," said Mrs. Wilson. "Jonas Pentz stands high in his
+class, and is a great help to our Sam. Don't you remember him? He is the
+boy that came and spent a night with Sam a week ago. They have their
+first lesson in 'Caesar' this afternoon; perhaps they are studying up."
+
+"Jack always has to go where Sam does," said Gertrude.
+
+This was the talk at the Wilsons' table. The subject was much the same
+at the Pentzes'. There was a large family at the Wilsons'; so there was
+at the Pentzes'. Mrs. Pentz was ladling out some boiled apple-pudding to
+a hungry circle round her. But she missed two.
+
+"Where are Jonas and Dick?" she asked.
+
+A clamor of answers came up.
+
+"I saw Jonas and Dick go off with Sam Wilson after school, and Jack
+Wilson, and John Stebbins," said Will, one of the small boys.
+
+"You don't think Jonas and Dick both went to dine at the Wilsons'?" said
+Mrs. Pentz. "I should not like that."
+
+"I dare say they did," said Mary Pentz. "You know the Wilson boys are
+here half the time, and the other half our boys are at the Wilsons'."
+
+"Still, I don't like their going there for meal-times," said Mrs. Pentz,
+anxiously.
+
+"Jonas had a new lesson in 'Caesar,'" said Mary Pentz. "I don't believe
+they planned to spend much time at dinner."
+
+But at supper-time no boys appeared at the Wilsons'. Mrs. Wilson was
+anxious. George, the youngest boy of all, said the boys had been home
+since afternoon school; he had seen Jack in the kitchen with John
+Stebbins.
+
+"Jack came to me for gingerbread," said Jane, "and I asked him where
+they had been, and John Stebbins said, with the Pentz boys. He said
+something about to-morrow being a holiday, and preparing for a lark."
+
+"I don't like their getting all their meals at the Pentzes'," said Mrs.
+Wilson, "and I don't much like John Stebbins."
+
+Again at the Pentzes' the talk was much the same.
+
+Mary Pentz reported the boys went through their 'Caesar' recitation
+well; she had a nod of triumph from Jonas as he walked off with Sam
+Wilson. "They had their books, so I suppose they are off for study
+again."
+
+"I don't like their taking two meals a day at the Wilsons'," said Mrs.
+Pentz.
+
+"There's no school to-morrow," said Mary, "because the new furnace is to
+be put in. But I dare say the boys, Sam and Jonas, will be studying all
+the same."
+
+"I hope he won't be out late," said Mrs. Pentz.
+
+"He's more likely to spend the night at the Wilsons'," said Mary. "You
+know he did a week ago."
+
+"The boys were round here for a candle," said Will.
+
+"Then they do mean to study late," said Mrs. Pentz. "I shall tell him
+never to do it again; and with Dick, too!"
+
+Mr. Wilson came hurrying home for a late supper, and announced he must
+go to New York by a late train.
+
+"A good chance for you," he said to his wife, "to go and see your
+sister. You won't have more than a day with her, for I shall have to
+take the night train back, but it will give you a day's talk."
+
+Mrs. Wilson would like to go, but she felt anxious about the boys. "They
+have not been home for dinner or supper."
+
+"But they came home for gingerbread," said Aunt Harriet. "I suppose they
+didn't have too hearty a dinner at the Pentzes'."
+
+"Joanna says they went off with a basket packed up for to-morrow," said
+Gertrude.
+
+"If the Pentzes did not live so far off, I would send up," said Mrs.
+Wilson.
+
+"They will be in by the time we are off, or soon after," said Mr.
+Wilson. "It looks like rain, but it won't hurt us."
+
+Mrs. Wilson and he went, but no boys appeared all the evening.
+
+Aunt Harriet, who had not been long in the family, concluded this was
+the way boys acted.
+
+Jane sat up some time finishing a novel, and hurried off to bed,
+startled to find it so late, and waking up Gertrude to say, "It is odd
+those boys have not come home!"
+
+Why hadn't they?
+
+They couldn't.
+
+This is what happened.
+
+Wednesday afternoon, after school, the younger boys had gone to play
+at the old Wilson house, far away at the other end of the Main Street,
+beyond the Pentzes'. This was an old deserted mansion, where the Wilsons
+themselves had lived once upon a time. But it had taken a fortune and
+two furnaces to warm it in winter, and half a dozen men to keep the
+garden in order in summer, and it had grown now more fashionable to live
+at the other end of the town; so the Wilson family had moved down years
+ago, where the girls could see "the passing" and Mr. Wilson would be
+near his business. Of late years he had not been able to let the house,
+and it had been closely shut to keep it from the tramps. The boys had
+often begged the keys of their father, for they thought it would be such
+fun to take possession of the old house. But Mr. Wilson said, "No; if a
+parcel of boys found their way in, all the tramps in the neighborhood
+would learn how to get in too." Still, it continued the object of the
+boys' ambition to get into the house, and they were fond of going up to
+play in the broad grassy space by the side of the house; and they kept
+good oversight of the apple crop there.
+
+On this Wednesday afternoon they were playing ball there, and lost the
+ball. It had gone through a ventilation hole into the cellar part of the
+house.
+
+Now, everybody knows that if a boy loses a ball it must be recovered,
+especially if he knows where it is. There is not even a woman so
+stony-hearted but she will let in a troop of muddy-shoed boys through
+her entry (just washed) if they come to look for a ball, even if it
+has broken a pane of glass on its way. So the boys got a ladder from
+the Pentzes', and put it up at one of the windows where the blind was
+broken. Jack went up the ladder. The slat was off, but not in the right
+place to open the window. There could not be any harm in breaking off
+another; then he could reach the middle of the sash and pull up the
+window. No; it was fastened inside. John Stebbins tried, but it was of
+no use.
+
+"It would not help if we broke the window by the fastening," said John;
+"for the shutters are closed inside with old-fashioned inside shutters."
+
+Here was the time to ask for the key. They must have the key to find
+that ball, and the boys trudged back to meet Sam just going home from
+the Pentzes'.
+
+But Sam refused to ask for the key again, He didn't want to bother his
+father so soon, and he didn't want the bother himself. He had his new
+"Caesar" lesson to study; to-morrow, after school, he and Jonas would
+look round at the house, and find some way to recover the ball, for even
+the stern and studious Sam knew the value of a ball.
+
+So Thursday noon the boys all hurried up to the Wilson house,--Sam,
+Jonas, and all. They examined it on every side. They came back to the
+hole where the ball was lost.
+
+"There's the cold-air box," said Jonas. "Could not Dick crawl in?"
+
+Now, Dick was a very small pattern of a boy, indeed, to be still a boy.
+Really he might crawl into the cold-air box. He tried it! He did get in!
+He had to squeeze through one part, but worked his way down fairly into
+the cellar, and screamed out with triumph that he had found the ball
+close by the hole! But how was Dick to get out again? He declared he
+could never scramble up. He slipped back as fast as he tried. He would
+look for the cellar stairs, only it was awful dark except just by the
+hole. He had a match in his pocket. Jack ran to the Pentzes' and got a
+candle, and they rolled it in to Dick, and waited anxiously to see where
+he would turn up next. They heard him, before long, pounding at a door
+round the corner of the house. He had found the cellar stairs, and a
+door with bolts and a great rusty key, which he succeeded in turning.
+The boys pulled at the door and it opened; and there stood Dick with the
+ball in one hand, picking up the candle with the other!
+
+What a chance to enter the house! Down the cellar stairs, up into the
+attics! Strange echoes in the great halls, and dark inside; for all the
+windows were closed and barred,--all but in one room upstairs that
+opened on a back veranda. It was a warm late-autumn day, and the sun
+poured down pleasantly upon a seat in the corner of the veranda, where
+a creeper was shedding its last gay leaves.
+
+"What a place to study!" exclaimed Sam.
+
+"Let's come and spend to-morrow," said John Stebbins; "there's no
+school."
+
+"No school Friday, on account of the furnace!" exclaimed Jack. "Let's
+bring a lot of provisions and stay the whole day here."
+
+"We might lay it in to-night," said John Stebbins; "we'll come up after
+school this afternoon!"
+
+"And I'll tell father about the key this evening," said Sam; "he won't
+mind, if he finds we have got one."
+
+"Jack and I will see to the provisions," said John Stebbins, "if the
+rest of you boys will come here as soon as school is over."
+
+It was all so interesting that they were too late for dinners, and had
+to content themselves with gingerbread as they hurried to school.
+
+"Be sure you tell mother," was Sam's last warning to Jack and John
+Stebbins, as they parted for their separate schoolrooms.
+
+After school the party hastened to the old house. Sam took the entry key
+from his pocket and opened the door, leaving Dick to wait for Jack and
+John Stebbins. They appeared before long with a basket of provisions,
+and were ready for a feast directly, but delayed for a further
+examination of the house. It was dark soon, and Sam would not let them
+stay long in any one room. They must just take a look, and then go
+home,--no waiting for a feast.
+
+"I'll talk to father this evening, and ask him if we may have it if we
+keep the whole thing secret."
+
+They fumbled their way down to the lower back door, but could not get it
+open. It was locked!
+
+"We left the key in the door outside," said Dick, in a low whisper.
+
+"You ninnies!" exclaimed Sam, "somebody saw you and has locked us in."
+
+"Some of the boys, to plague us," said John Stebbins.
+
+"Mighty great secrecy, now," said Sam, "if half the boys in town know we
+are here. It all comes of that great basket of provisions you saw fit to
+bring round."
+
+"You'll be glad enough of it," said John Stebbins, "if we have to spend
+the night here."
+
+"Let's have it now," said Jack.
+
+"We may as well occupy ourselves that way," said Sam, in a resigned
+tone, "till they choose to let us out."
+
+"Suppose we go up to the room with the bed and the sofa," said John
+Stebbins; "and we've got a surprise for you. There's a pie,--let's eat
+that."
+
+They stumbled their way back. The provident John Stebbins had laid in
+more candles, and they found an old table and had a merry feast.
+
+Sam and Jonas had their books. When Sam had hold of a fresh Latin book
+he could not keep away from it. Jonas's mind was busy with a new
+invention. The boys thought he would make his fortune by it. He was
+determined to invent some use for coal ashes. They were the only things
+that were not put to some use by his mother in their establishment. He
+thought he should render a service to mankind if he could do something
+useful with coal ashes. So he had studied all the chemistry books, and
+had one or two in his pockets now, and drew out a paper with H O, and
+other strange letters and figures on it. The other boys after supper
+busied themselves with arranging the room for a night's sleep.
+
+"It's awful jolly," said Dick. "This bed will hold four of us. I'll
+sleep across the foot, and Sam shall have the sofa."
+
+But Sam rose up from his study. "I've no notion of spending the night
+here. The door must be open by this time."
+
+He went to the window that looked out on the veranda. There was a heavy
+rain-storm; it was pouring hard. It was hard work getting down to the
+door in the dark. The candle kept going out; and they found the door
+still locked when they reached it.
+
+"Why not spend the night?" said Jonas. "They'll have got over their
+worries at home by this time."
+
+"Nobody could come up here to see after us in this rain," said Sam.
+"I suppose they think that as we have made our bed we may as well sleep
+in it."
+
+Sleep they did until a late hour in the morning. All the windows but the
+one upon the veranda closed with shutters. They woke up to find snow and
+rain together. They went all over the house to find some way of getting
+out, but doors and windows were well closed.
+
+"It's no use, boys," said Sam. "We've tried it often enough from outside
+to get in, and now it is as hard to get out. I was always disgusted that
+the windows were so high from the ground. Anyhow, father or some of the
+folks will be after us sometime. What was it you told mother?" Sam
+asked.
+
+John Stebbins had to confess that he had not seen Mrs. Wilson, and
+indeed had been vague with the information he had left with Jane. "I
+told them we were with the Pentz boys," he said; "I thought it just as
+well to keep dark."
+
+"Mighty dark we all of us are!" said Sam, in a rage. He was so angry
+that John Stebbins began to think he had made Jane understand where they
+were, and he tried to calm Sam down. Jonas proposed that Dick should be
+put through the cold-air box again. With a little squeezing from behind
+he must be able to get through. Everybody but Dick thought it such a
+nice plan that he was obliged to agree. But what was their horror when
+they reached the place to find some boards nailed across the outside!
+
+"A regular siege!" said Sam. "Well, if they can stand it I guess we
+can." His mettle was up. "We'll stay till relief forces come. It is some
+trick of the boys. Lucky there's no school. They can't hold out long."
+
+"A state of siege! What fun!" cried the boys.
+
+"I only wish we had brought two pies," said John Stebbins. "But there's
+plenty of gingerbread."
+
+Now they would ransack the house at their leisure. There was light
+enough in the attics to explore the treasures hidden there. They found
+old coal-hods for helmets, and warming-pans for fiery steeds, and they
+had tournaments in the huge halls. They piled up carpets for their
+comfort in their bedroom,--bits of old carpet,--and Jonas and Sam
+discovered a pile of old worm-eaten books. The day seemed too short,
+and the provender lasted well.
+
+The night, however, was not so happy. The candles were growing short
+and matches fewer. Sam and Jonas had to economize in reading, and told
+stories instead, and the stories had a tendency to ghosts. Dick and Jack
+murmured to John Stebbins it was not such fun after all; when, lo! their
+own talk was interrupted by noises below! A sound of quarrelling voices
+came from the rooms beneath. Voices of men! They went on tiptoe to the
+head of the stairs to listen.
+
+Tramps, indeed!
+
+How had they got in? Was it they who had locked the door? Did they come
+in that way?
+
+"Suppose we go down," said Sam, in a whisper. But John Stebbins and the
+little boys would not think of it. The men were swearing at each other;
+there was a jingle of bottles and sound of drinking.
+
+"It's my opinion we had better keep quiet," said Jonas. "It is a poor
+set, and I don't know what they would do to us if they saw we had found
+them out and would be likely to tell of them."
+
+So they crept back noiselessly. In a state of siege, indeed! John
+Stebbins, with help of the others, lifted the sofa across the door and
+begged Sam to sleep on it. But that night there was not much sleep! The
+storm continued, snow, hail, and rain, and wind howling against the
+windows. Toward morning they did fall asleep. It was at a late hour they
+waked up and went to peer out from the veranda window. There was a
+policeman passing round the house!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile there had been great anxiety at the Wilsons'.
+
+"If it were not for the storm," said Aunt Harriet, "I should send up to
+the Pentzes' to inquire about those boys."
+
+"I suppose it's the storm that keeps them," said Jane.
+
+"If it were not for the storm," Mrs. Pentz was saying to Mary, "I should
+like you to go down to the Wilsons' and see what those boys are about."
+
+As to Mrs. Stebbins, John was so seldom at home it did not occur to her
+to wonder where he was.
+
+But when Saturday morning came, and no boys, Aunt Harriet said, "There's
+a little lull in the storm. I can't stand it any longer, Jane. I am
+going to put on my waterproof and go up to the Pentzes'."
+
+"I will go too," said Jane; and Gertrude and George joined the party.
+
+Half-way up the long street they met the Pentz family coming down to
+make the same inquiries,--Mr. and Mrs. Pentz, Mary, Sophy, Will, and the
+rest.
+
+"Where are the boys?" was the exclamation as they met half-way between
+the two houses.
+
+Mr. Johnson, one of the leading men of the town, crossed the street to
+ask what was the commotion in the two families. "Our boys are missing,"
+said Mr. Pentz. "Five boys!"
+
+"We haven't seen them since Thursday morning," said Aunt Harriet.
+
+"They were at home Thursday afternoon," said Mary Pentz.
+
+"I must speak to the police," said Mr. Pentz.
+
+"He is up at the Wilson House," said Mr. Johnson. "There were tramps in
+the house there last night, and the police came very near catching them.
+He found the door unlocked night before last. The tramps kept off that
+night, but turned up last night in the storm. They have got off,
+however. There is only one policeman, but we've sworn in a special to
+keep guard on the house."
+
+"I'll go up and see him," said Mr. Pentz.
+
+"We'll all go up," said Harriet.
+
+"Perhaps the tramps have gone off with the boys," said Gertrude.
+
+Quite a crowd had collected with the party as they moved up the street,
+and all together came to the front of the house. The policeman was just
+disappearing round the other side. They turned to the back to meet him,
+and reached the corner where the veranda looked down upon the yard.
+
+At this moment Mr. and Mrs. Wilson appeared. They had arrived at the
+station from New York, and heard there the story of the disappearance of
+the boys, and of tramps in the house. They hastened to the scene, Mrs.
+Wilson almost distracted, and now stood with the rest of the Wilsons and
+the Pentzes awaiting the policeman. They heard a cry from above, and
+looked up to the veranda.
+
+There were all the boys in a row.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+A PLACE FOR OSCAR.
+
+
+"I don't like tiresome fables," said Jack, throwing down an old book in
+which he had been trying to read; "it is so ridiculous making the beasts
+talk. Of course they never do talk that way, and if they did talk, they
+would not be giving that kind of advice But then they never did talk.
+Did you ever hear of a beast talking, Ernest, except in a fable?"
+
+Ernest looked up from his book.
+
+"Why, yes," he said decidedly; "the horses of Achilles talked, don't you
+remember?"
+
+"Well, that was a kind of fable," said Jack. "Our horses never talked.
+Bruno comes near it sometimes. But, Hester, don't you think fables are
+tiresome? They always have a moral tagged on!" he continued, appealing
+to his older sister; for Ernest proved a poor listener, and was deep in
+his book again.
+
+"I will tell you a fable about a boy," said Hester, sitting down with
+her work, "and you shall see."
+
+"But don't let the beasts speak," said Jack, "and don't let the boy give
+advice!"
+
+"He won't even think of it," said Hester; and she went on.
+
+"Once there was a boy, and his name was Oscar, and he went to a very
+good school, where he learned to spell and read very well, and do a few
+sums. But when he had learned about as much as that, he took up a new
+accomplishment. This was to fling up balls, two at a time, and catch
+them in his hands. This he could do wonderfully well; but then a great
+many other boys could. He, however, did it at home; he did it on the
+sidewalk; he could do it sitting on the very top of a board fence; but
+he was most proud of doing it in school hours while the teacher was not
+looking. This grew to be his great ambition. He succeeded once or twice,
+when she was very busy with a younger class, and once while her back was
+turned, and she was at the door receiving a visitor.
+
+"But that did not satisfy him: he wanted to be able to do it when she
+was sitting on her regular seat in front of the platform; and every day
+he practised, sometimes with one ball and sometimes with another. It
+took a great deal of his time and all of his attention; and often some
+of the other boys were marked for laughing when he succeeded. And he had
+succeeded so well that the teacher had not the slightest idea what they
+were laughing at.
+
+"All this was very satisfactory to him; but it was not so well for him
+at the end of the year, because it turned out he was behind-hand in all
+his studies, and he had to be put down into a lower room. But coming
+into another room with a fresh teacher, he had to learn his favorite
+accomplishment all over again. It was difficult, for she was a very
+rigid teacher, and seemed to have eyes in every hair of her head; and
+he sat at the other side of the room, so that he had to change hands
+somehow in throwing the balls and getting them into his desk quick
+without being seen. But there were a number of younger boys in the
+room who enjoyed it all very much, so that he was a real hero, and
+felt himself quite a favorite. He did manage to keep up better in his
+arithmetic, too, in spite of his having so little time for his books.
+Perhaps from having to watch the teacher so much, he did learn the
+things that he heard her repeat over and over again; and then he picked
+up some knowledge from the other boys. Still, all through his school
+term, he was sent about more or less from one room to another. The
+teachers could not quite understand why such a bright-looking boy, who
+seemed to be always busy with his lessons, was not farther on in his
+studies.
+
+"So it happened, when they all left school, Oscar was himself surprised
+to find that the boys of his age were ahead of him in various ways. A
+large class went on to the high school; but Oscar, as it proved, was not
+at all fitted.
+
+"And his father took him round from one place to another to try to get
+some occupation for him. He looked so bright that he was taken for an
+office-boy here and there; but he never stayed. The fact was, the only
+thing he could do well was to fling balls up in the air and catch them
+in turn, without letting them drop to the ground; and this he could
+only do best on the sly, behind somebody's back. Now this, though
+entertaining to those who saw it for a little while, did not help on his
+employers, who wondered why they did not get more work out of Oscar.
+
+"A certain Mr. Spenser, a friend of Oscar's father, asked him to bring
+his boy round to his office, and he would employ him. 'He will have to
+do a little drudgery at first, but I think we can promote him soon, if
+he is faithful.'
+
+"So Oscar went with his father to Mr. Spenser's office. Mr. Spenser
+started a little when he saw Oscar; but after talking awhile, he went to
+his table, and took from a drawer two balls. 'My little boy left these
+here this morning,' he said. 'How long do you think,' turning to Oscar,
+'you could keep them up in the air without letting them drop?'
+
+"Oscar was much pleased. Here was his chance; at this office the kind of
+thing he could do was wanted. So he dexterously took the balls, and
+flung them up and down, and might have kept at it all the morning but
+that Mr. Spenser said at last, 'That will do, and it is more than
+enough.' He said, turning to Oscar's father: 'As soon as I saw your boy
+I thought I recognized him as a boy I saw one day in the school flinging
+balls up in the air on the sly behind his teacher's back. I'm sorry to
+see that he keeps up the art still. But I felt pretty sure that day that
+he couldn't have learned much else. I should be afraid to take him into
+my office with a propensity to do things on the sly, for I have other
+boys that must learn to be busy. Perhaps you can find some other place
+for Oscar.'
+
+"But Oscar could not find the kind of place.
+
+"His friend, Seth Clayton, had been fond of collecting insects all
+through his school years. Oscar used to laugh at his boxes full of bugs.
+But Seth used to study them over, and talk about them with his teacher,
+who told him all she knew, and helped him to find books about them. And
+it was when she was leaning over a beautiful specimen of a night-moth
+that Oscar had performed his most remarkable feat of keeping three balls
+in the air for a second and a half. This was in their last school year.
+
+"And now, after some years more of study, Seth was appointed to join an
+expedition to go to South America and look up insects along the Amazon
+and in Brazil.
+
+"'Just what I should like to do,' said Oscar; for he had studied a
+little about the geography of South America, and thought it would be fun
+catching cocoanuts with the help of the monkeys, and have a salary too.
+'That is something I really could do,' said Oscar to Seth. But Seth
+went, and Oscar was left behind.
+
+"Will Leigh had the best chance, perhaps. He used to be a great crony of
+Oscar. He went through the Latin School, and then to Harvard College.
+'He was always burrowing into Latin and Greek,' said Oscar; 'much as
+ever you could do to get an English word out of him.'
+
+"Well, he was wanted as professor in a Western college; so they sent him
+for three years to a German university to study up his Hebrew. But he
+was to travel about Europe first.
+
+"'I wish they would send me,' said Oscar. 'Travelling about Europe is
+just what I should like, and just what I could do. It is a queer thing
+that just these fellows that can work hard, and like to work too, get
+the easiest places, where they have only to lie back and do nothing!'
+
+"Even some of the boys who were behind him in school and below him in
+lower classes came out ahead. Sol Smith, whom Oscar always thought a
+stupid dunce, had the place in Mr. Spenser's office that he would have
+liked.
+
+"'Mr. Spenser took Sol out to his country place in the mountains,' Oscar
+complained, 'where he has boats and plenty of fishing. I know I could
+have caught a lot of trout. It is just what I can do. But that stupid
+Sol, if he looked at a trout, he probably frightened it away.'
+
+"It was just so all along through life. Oscar could not find exactly the
+place he was fitted for. One of his friends, Tracy, went out West as
+engineer. 'I could have done that,' said Oscar; 'I could have carried
+the chain as easy as not. It is a little hard that all the rest of the
+fellows tumble into these easy places. There's Tracy making money hand
+over hand.'
+
+"The next he heard of him Tracy was in the legislature. 'That I could
+do,' said Oscar. 'It is easy enough to go and sit in the legislature,
+with your hands in your pockets, and vote when your turn comes; or you
+needn't be there all the time if you don't choose.'
+
+"So they put Oscar up for the legislature; but he lost the vote, because
+he forgot to sign his name to an important note, in answer to one of his
+'constituents.' He tried for Congress, too, but without success. He
+talked round among his friends about running for President. There was
+the great White House to live in. He would be willing to stay all
+summer. He felt he should be the right person, as he had never done
+anything, and would offend no party.
+
+"But even for President something more is needed than catching
+half-a-dozen balls without letting them fall to the ground.
+
+"Once, indeed, he had thought of joining a circus; but he could not
+equal the Chinese juggler with the balls, and it tired him to jump up
+and down. His father got him the place of janitor at an art building;
+but he made mistakes in making change for tickets, and put wrong checks
+on the umbrellas and parasols, so that nobody got the right umbrella. He
+was really glad when they dismissed him, it tired him so. It was harder
+work than flinging balls----"
+
+"Look at here, you need not go on," said Jack, interrupting his sister.
+"I never did it but just once in school, and that was when you happened
+to come in and speak to Miss Eaton. I was real ashamed that you caught
+me at it then, and I have never had the balls at school since, or
+thought of them."
+
+"The beast has spoken," said Ernest, looking up from his book.
+
+Jack made a rush at his brother. "Oh! stop," said Ernest; "let us find
+out what became of Oscar."
+
+"He has married," said Hester, "and his wife supports him."
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE FIRST NEEDLE.
+
+
+  "Have you heard the new invention, my dears,
+  That a man has invented?" said she.
+  "It's a stick with an eye,
+  Through which you can tie
+  A thread so long, it acts like a thong;
+  And the men have such fun
+  To see the thing run!
+  A firm, strong thread, through that eye at the head,
+  Is pulled over the edges most craftily,
+  And makes a beautiful seam to see!"
+
+  "What! instead of those wearisome thorns, my dear,
+  Those wearisome thorns?" cried they.
+  "The seam we pin,
+  Driving them in;
+  But where are they, by the end of the day,
+  With dancing and jumping and leaps by the sea?
+  For wintry weather
+  They won't hold together,
+  Seal-skins and bear-skins all dropping round,
+  Off from our shoulders down to the ground.
+  The thorns, the tiresome thorns, will prick,
+  But none of them ever consented to stick!
+  Oh, won't the men let us this new thing use?
+  If we mend their clothes, they can't refuse.
+  Ah, to sew up a seam for them to see,--
+  What a treat, a delightful treat, 't will be!"
+
+  "Yes, a nice thing, too, for the babies, my dears,--
+  But, alas, there is but one!" cried she.
+  "I saw them passing it round, and then
+  They said it was only fit for men!
+  What woman would know
+  How to make the thing go?
+  There was not a man so foolish to dream
+  That any woman could sew up a seam!"
+
+  Oh, then there was babbling and screaming, my dears!
+  "At least they might let us do that!" cried they.
+  "Let them shout and fight
+  And kill bears day and night;
+  We'll leave them their spears and hatchets of stone
+  If they'll give us this thing for our very own.
+  It will be like a joy above all we could scheme,
+  To sit up all night and sew such a seam!"
+
+  "Beware! take care!" cried an aged old crone,
+  "Take care what you promise!" said she.
+  "At first 't will be fun,
+  But, in the long run,
+  You'll wish that the men had let the thing be.
+  Through this stick with an eye
+  I look and espy
+  That for ages and ages you'll sit and you'll sew,
+  And longer and longer the seams will grow,
+  And you'll wish you never had asked to sew.
+  But nought that I say.
+  Can keep back the day;
+  For the men will return to their hunting and rowing.
+  And leave to the women forever the sewing."
+
+  Ah! what are the words of an aged crone,
+  For all have left her muttering alone;
+  And the needle and thread they got with such pains.
+  They forever must keep as dagger and chains.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Last of the Peterkins, by Lucretia P. Hale
+
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