een fields
dazzling with the fresh green of wheat and rye, and waysides studded with
such wild-flowers as none of them had ever seen or dreamed of before. Pink
spikes and white and vivid blue spikes; masses of brown and orange cups,
like low-growing tulips; ranks of beautiful vetches and purple lupines;
escholtzias, like immense sweeps of golden sunlight; wild sweet peas;
trumpet-shaped blossoms whose name no one knew,--all flung broadcast over
the face of the land, and in such stintless quantities that it dazzled the
mind to think of as it did the eyes to behold them. The low-lying horizons
looked infinitely far off; the sense of space was confusing. Here and
there appeared a home-stead, backed with a "break-wind" of thickly-planted
trees; but the general impression was of vast, still distance, endless
reaches of sky, and uncounted flowers growing for their own pleasure and
with no regard for human observation.

In studying Car Forty-seven, Katy was much impressed by the thoroughness
of Mrs. Dayton's preparations for the comfort of her party. Everything
that could possibly be needed seemed to have been thought of,--pins,
cologne, sewing materials, all sorts of softening washes for the skin, to
be used on the alkaline plains, sponges to wet and fasten into the crown
of hats, other sponges to breathe through, medicines of various kinds,
sticking-plaster, witch-hazel and arnica, whisk brooms, piles of magazines
and novels, telegraph blanks, stationery. Nothing seemed forgotten. Clover
said that it reminded her of the mother of the Swiss Family Robinson and
that wonderful bag out of which everything was produced that could be
thought of, from a grand piano to a bottle of pickles; and after that
"Mrs. Robinson" became Mrs. Dayton's pet name among her
fellow-travellers. She adopted it cheerfully; and her "wonderful bag"
proving quite as unfailing and trustworthy as that of her prototype, the
title seemed justified.

Pretty soon after starting came their first dinner on the car. Such a nice
one!--soup, roast chicken and lamb, green peas, new potatoes, stewed
tomato; all as hot and as perfectly served as if they had been "on dry
land," as Amy phrased it. There was fresh curly lettuce too, with
mayonnaise dressing, and a dessert of strawberries and ice-cream,--the
latter made and frozen on the car, whose resources seemed inexhaustible.
The cook had been attached to Car Forty-seven for some years, and had a
celebrity on his own