ee them--all the big ones
anyway. I wonder when we could go, mother?"

"I wonder _how_ we could go," said Mrs. Merrill, "the parks are so far
apart that a journey through them all would be a hopeless task, seems to
me."

"Depends on how you do it," laughed Mr. Merrill. "I'll tell you what I
thought. I'll take the whole day away from the office so as to go along.
We'll start fairly early and take the elevated out to Garfield Park--you
know we promised the girls a trip on the elevated and we've always taken
the train! We'll see that park well, you know it has gardens and
greenhouses and lakes, and then we'll get a taxi and go to two or three
other parks and ride home."

The girls thought that was a wonderful plan and they wanted to set the day
for that very same week. So Thursday was decided upon.

"Now there's one thing besides getting a good lunch ready that I want you
folks to do," said Mr. Merrill as they picked up their baskets and balls
ready to go home, "I want you to get out that map of Chicago we had on the
train the day we came up here and find just where Garfield Park is and how
we get there and how many interesting sights like rivers and parks and
boulevards we pass on the way." And of course the girls promised that they
would find the map and get all that information first thing in the
morning.

Riding on the elevated proved to be great fun. Mary Jane was afraid for a
few minutes she wasn't going to like it--the stairs were so very high up
with holes in each step to see down to the ground; and the train dashed to
the platform with such a roar and bustle and people crowded on and jerk!
the train rushed off. But when she settled down in the seat, comfortingly
near her mother, and looked out over the roofs of houses and stores, and
down long streets, one after another, she found she wasn't a bit afraid
and that she liked it very much. She liked watching for children on folks'
back porches. Some played on the porch and some played in the dining-room
windows--it was easy to tell which were the dining-room windows because
always there were three big windows and always she could look right
through the curtains and see the big table in the middle of the room. The
only trouble with watching folks from an elevated was that the train
dashed by so quickly she couldn't any more than see, till--flash, flash,
and they were gone and there was another street and another set of back
stairs and some different children play