we reached it, we found we had half an hour to spare before the train would leave. So, having put our carpet-bags into a proper place, we took a little stroll into the town. I do not, however, recollect seeing anything there, in that short time, that is worth telling you. Oh yes, there was one thing that you would have been very much pleased with. It was a pretty little dog; a greyhound, not much larger than a large cat, only its legs were longer. It came running out of a house as we passed by; and it jumped about us as though it knew us; and when your brother stooped down to stroke it, it stood quite still, and wagged its tail, and seemed very much pleased that it was taken notice of. And George was pleased too, as you may suppose; and he gave it a piece of the cake which he had in his pocket. George was sorry to leave the pretty dog, and he wished that we had such an one at home; but if we had, I do not think it would be of much use to us. Dogs of this sort are called Italian greyhounds. They are kept more for their beauty than their use; and folks that have got little boys and girls to take care of, do not need pet dogs to amuse them, do they?

After we had played with the dog a little longer, we thought it was time to get back to the railway. And so it was; for the carriages were all ready, and the people who were going in them were taking their seats.

So we took our carpet-bags, paid the money for our tickets, and took our seats too.

And then we heard the steam-engine begin to puff, and we felt the carriage we were in begin to move. At first it moved very slowly; but every minute it went quicker and quicker, until it soon moved along the road, faster than a horse could gallop, and we quite lost sight of the station which we had started from.

Perhaps you do not quite understand all this about the railroad, and station, and train, and steam-engine; and how a carriage can be made to run along a road faster than a horse can gallop. And I am afraid that if I were to try to explain it all to my little girl, she would not be much the wiser. I think, too, that she would rather hear how her

father and brother got to the end of their journey. So I will go on with that part of the story, and leave it to mother to say anything else that she pleases about the railroad.

For some time after we left the station, the road was shut in between two very high banks, so that we could not see anything of the country through which we were passing. But after a short time, we got away from these banks, and then we had a fine view on either side of us. There were corn-fields, and meadows with cows and sheep in them; and there were hay-fields, with men and women making hay; and there was a river, too, with boats and barges sailing on it; and the sun shone so brightly, and everything looked so pleasant and happy, that we could not help feeling happy too. There was only one little thing which made the ride less pleasant to us than it could have been: it was the wind. This made us feel rather cold; and we were obliged to draw our cloaks round us to keep us warm, and to hold our hats with our hands, for fear they should be blown quite away. Indeed, George's strawhat did blow away before we got to our journey's end; but not while we were upon the railroad.

Presently we heard a very loud, shrill whistle; so loud and shrill that George put his hands to his ears to stop out the sound. Indeed it was not at all a pleasant sound,

and I do not wonder that it startled your brother. It was made by the steam-engine; and directly the carriages began to move more and more slowly, until they stopped at another such station as we left but a little while before. It was such a short time since we had entered the carriage that George thought we could not have travelled more than a mile, if indeed, we had got so far as that; and you may think that he was surprised when I told him that we were six miles from the place we started from.

We did not stay long at this place. Soon there was another whistle, and then the carriages again went on as before.

Then we saw a high hill at a little distance from the road; and a great many houses upon it. It was a large town. Your brother said that it put him in mind of a verse in the Bible, about a city set upon a hill, which cannot be hid. Mother will be so kind as to find that verse for you, and read it to you, and tell you what it means.

But I must not keep you so long upon the railroad, for that was only a short part of our journey. In about an hour we got safely to the last station, and were glad to stand once more upon the ground. I dare say when you see George again he will have to tell you more about the railroad than I have done. How, in one place, it passed through a hill, so that we were quite in the dark, under

ground; and how, in another place, it went over a river, so that we saw the boats sailing quite below us. These things I shall leave for your brother to tell you, and go on with the other part of our journey.

When we got away from the railroad we went to an inn, and inquired how long it would be before the next coach would be going to H- We were told that one would go in about an hour; so we left our bags at the inn, and went for a little walk. There was a pretty field just opposite, with a path through it. We went into this field and sat under a tree, and then we looked into the paper bag which your kind mother had given to us before we left home. Yes, yes; and we did more than look into it; we emptied it too and a nice dinner we had, as we sat under the tree. It made us think of our tea in the arbour last week; and we talked about you and mother, and little sister, and wished you were all with us, with another paper bag. We did not feel the wind because there was a thick, high hedge behind us.

When we had finished our dinner in this pretty field, we walked again into the road, and found that the coach would soon be ready to begin the journey, for the men in the inn yard were bringing out the horses, and harnessing them to the coach. So we waited near, and saw that our luggage was safe; and when the coachman said that he