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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15546-8.txt b/15546-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1da363a --- /dev/null +++ b/15546-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5234 @@ +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. 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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; } + .poem .stanza { margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; } + .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%; } + .toc { width: 15%; float: left; text-align: right; } + a { text-decoration: none; } +/*]]>*/ + // --> +</style> +</head> +<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 & 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,—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,—"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,—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,—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,—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,—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—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. +</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:— +</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,—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. +</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?—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—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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</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,—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,—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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</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—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,—it dropped out unconsciously,—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,—Mr. +Peterkin, Agamemnon, and Solomon John, with others,—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,—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.—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,—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,—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—the policeman or some friends coming into the house—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,—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—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. +</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,—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,—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. +</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,—those that had mothers,—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,—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—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. +</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,—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—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,— +</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,—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,—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. +</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,—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,—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,—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,—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. +</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,—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. +</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,—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—" 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,—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,—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,—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,—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,— +</p> +<p> +"This will never do! We are not the Peterkins,—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,—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. +</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,—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,—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,—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. +</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,—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. & 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. +</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. & 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),—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>—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. +</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,—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. & 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? +</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,—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:— +</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,—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—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! +</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,—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. +</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—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! +</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,—it was—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,—for I have longed to be the +discoverer of his mummy,—and I found instead—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—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? +</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,—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,—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—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,—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,—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,—that he had an +appointment by telegraph—" +</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,—"S.J.P.,—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,—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 &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,—"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—"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,—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—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:— +</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—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. +</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—<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.—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,—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. +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +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. +</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,—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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</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,—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,—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,—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—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,—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. +</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,—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,—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. +</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,—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,'"—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,—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. +</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,—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——" 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,—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:— +</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—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——" +</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,—no, the maid was scratched out,—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,—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." +</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——" +</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,—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,—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——" +</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,—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. +</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,—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,—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,—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,—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,—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. +</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,—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——" +</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,— </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,— </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. 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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. 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