t's eat right now!" said John eagerly.

"Not such a bad idea," laughed Grandfather as he looked at his watch.
"Then we'll have plenty of time."

They thanked the kind gentleman in whose office they had been and
walked to the car to eat their lunch. It was a good thing Grandfather
had left the car out of sight of the circus tent, for it was hard
enough to think about eating as it was! Had the tents been in sight it
would have been harder still. But on this quiet street and with the
wonderful parade to talk about they did full justice to Grandmother's
good meal. And when they had finished, even to the tempting little
apple pies, one for each person, they started for the circus.

If you've been to a circus yourself, you know something of the sights
they saw and of the sounds they heard. If you haven't better get
_your_ grandfather (or your father, if your grandfather isn't handy) to
take you to see one, for all the interesting things Mary Jane and John
heard and saw couldn't be put into one chapter--not even if it was a
double long one! They saw curious animals, munching away at their
dinner as though they had lived right there in that spot all their
lives instead of seven hours. They saw crawling snakes and marvelous
birds and the elephants that swayed their trunks backward and forward,
backward and forward, as though they were doing morning exercises. And
the ponies! The prettiest little ponies! Mary Jane didn't know there
_were_ such pretty ponies in all the world. She liked them the best of
anything she saw. John liked the monkeys, and Mary Jane and he fed
them peanuts that Grandfather bought and they felt so very important
because the keeper said that the sign, "Don't feed these animals,"
needn't bother them!

Then they went into the big tent and found their seats--just in time
they were too, for the clowns came running in at that very minute and
kept the children, and the grown folks, too, in an uproar of laughter.
After the circus really began, it seemed to Mary Jane that she must be
in a dream. It didn't seem as though all those jumping, racing, men
and horses and elephants and all, _could_ be real! She had to pinch
herself hard to be sure she was awake.

Right in the middle a man came around with ice cream cones and John
bought one.

"May I buy one too, Grandfather?" asked Mary Jane.

"Just as you like," said Grandfather. "It's your money." And for the
first time she remembered the purse wi