_Dear Boys and Girls:_
_The Sunbonnet Babies think Italy is the nicest country they have ever
seen, excepting of course their own dear America. I wonder if you will
agree with them when you read all about what they did and what they
saw in that sunny, happy land._
_To be sure, in the little country of Holland they saw great green
pastures where thousands of fine cows were feeding, and fields and
fields of beautiful tulips, and miles and miles of canals, and tall
windmills pumping water or grinding grain._
_They visited quaint little villages where the people dressed in odd,
pretty costumes, and they had happy times playing with the Dutch
children. But they did not see a mountain or even a high hill in all
Holland, and there were no lovely, woodsy lakes like those they knew
in America._
_The Overall Boys have told them about the wonderful mountains and the
dark forests and the beautiful lakes which they saw in Switzerland._
_But the Sunbonnet Babies saw all these things in Italy, too, and,
what is more, they saw a beautiful, beautiful city surrounded by
lovely, blue water, with miles of water streets flowing through it._
_Then they visited another city which, many, many years before, had
been buried by hot lava and ashes thrown out from a volcano near by.
One day they walked across the crater of another volcano and
saw hot, boiling sand almost at their feet._
_They took long, beautiful drives through the country and along the
seashore. They explored a great cave under the Humpbacked Island, and
had an exciting experience with two pirates._
_But they enjoyed best of all their many little tea parties from sunny
Capri to the City in the Sea. Nearly every afternoon they sat by a
small table under an orange tree, or beside the blue water, or on a
city sidewalk, and had nice things to eat and drink._
_The people were always kind to them and the sky was nearly always
sunny. It is a land of sunshine and flowers and fruit, like our own
sunny Florida, though Italy is much more beautiful. It is hardly twice
the size of Florida, but nearly one-third as many people live there as
live in the whole of our great United States. It is a crowded, happy,
lovely country, and Molly and May will never forget their wonderful
journey through it._
_Sincerely your friend_,
EULALIE OSGOOD GROVER