e for its immense size. Its size was prodigious. It was as
large as a small house.

A stovepipe stuck out where the little toe would be, and smoke was
pouring out of the pipe just as if some one had been putting a supply
of fuel on the fire. It was woodsmoke and had a pleasant smell. It
seemed that perhaps some one was preparing supper.

Not a soul was in sight about the house--or the shoe--nor about the
premises. Yet you could see that some one had been hard at work only a
short time before. The wash had been hung out to dry and it was still
damp. It hung from a line which was suspended from the highest point
of the shoe--where the strap is that you pull it on by--to the limb of
a nearby tree. You could tell by the garments that there were a lot of
children about. There were best shirts and every-day shirts and
petticoats and trousers. There were many colors, so that they all made
a rather gay spectacle. And some were of ordinary size, and some were
quite tiny.

There were many trees in the background; and one of these cast its
shade over the immense shoe in a very pleasing way. There was a table
under the tree, and a kind of dinner-bell hanging from a limb of the
tree. There were chairs about the table. Finally, there was a ladder
standing against the shoe, so that you could climb up and get in at the
top.

"And so," said Everychild in a tone of wonder, "this is where you
live!" He had taken the little boy by the hand.

The little boy was about to reply when something almost alarming
happened. The little boy slipped his hand away from Everychild's and
shrank back until he was hiding behind Cinderella's skirt. An
astonishing head and shoulders appeared above the top of the shoe!

The Old Woman who Lived in the Shoe had heard them. She remained
perched in her place, glaring severely about the yard below.

Nor was this all. Other individuals inside the shoe had evidently
heard the voice of Everychild. And now they began to peep out in the
most extraordinary fashion. Three pairs of eyes appeared at the broken
toe of the shoe. And up the double row of eye-holes, all the way up
the front of the shoe, startled faces were to be seen. You could see
excited eyes with hair hanging down before them.

All this proved too much for the little black dog, who had gone forward
from Tom's side to inspect the shoe. Now he began barking excitedly at
the half-hidden faces.

Everychild stood in his place,