* * * * *
Alice could not sleep any more that morning. Instead of dreading to get
up she now only longed for the time when she could dress herself, and
run over to tell Susy the delightful news.
So she lay in bed waiting for the clock to strike six. “I will get up
then, certainly,” she said; “but I wish it would be seven. I hate to be
up so long before breakfast.”
[Illustration]
Just then two little birds lighted on a tree just outside of her window,
and began their morning song. They seemed to have a great deal to say to
each other, and Alice thought they were probably settling upon a good
place for a nest. Alice was right. They were deciding this most
important question.
Poor little birds, they have a hard time of it! Between bad boys and
cats they have to battle for their lives. We can excuse cats, for they
know no better, and they eat two or three mouthfuls of bird as
innocently as we would pick and eat two or three strawberries.
Well, these little birds were in a safe enough place, for the boys who
came to visit Alice were little gentlemen; and as Alice lay there
listening to them her thoughts began to wander. She thought she was a
bird and that Susy was another, and that they were both standing on the
chimney of Mrs. Thompson’s house. She was showing Uncle Dick’s money to
Susy, holding it in her beak, when suddenly, a big black cat came
creeping stealthily up the chimney and made a spring toward her
ten-dollar bill. She woke with a scream, and found that morning had
fairly come.
She sprang out of her bed, and was soon dressed. When she went down to
the parlor, she found her mamma writing a letter.
“Oh, mamma,” she exclaimed, “did you see what Uncle Dick left for me?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Grey; “was he not kind? He put it under your pillow
himself.”
“He is just the best uncle that ever lived,” said Alice, “and I am going
to write and tell him so; but, oh, dear me, I forgot, I don’t know where
he is.”
The summer passed away at last. Alice and Susy kept up their fair until
Mrs. Thompson grew perfectly well. In fact she said she had
[Illustration]
never been so well in her life as she was when she began to walk about
again.
The question arose how they should get back, should they take the cars
or the boat.
The children were decidedly in favor of the boat, and at last it was
decided that they should go in that way.
So one afternoon the trunks were all put on board of a big wagon, and
off the Grey family went.
The children had great fun on the boat, and thought it much better than
the cars.
The next day they reached New York, and soon the winter came with all
its duties. It brought its pleasures, too, but it was a long time before
the children ceased to talk about the pleasant summer days which had
passed.
[Illustration]
DOWN
BY THE
SEA.
_ILLUSTRATED._
NEW YORK:
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY,
PUBLISHERS.
Copyright, 1880, by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.