f us espied the figure and face we had longed to see for three long
years. In a moment five passengers on the "Polynesia" were crying,
"Papa," and gesticulating, and laughing, and hugging one another, and
going wild altogether. All the rest were roused by our excitement, and
came to see our father. He recognized us as soon as we him, and stood
apart on the wharf not knowing what to do, I thought.

What followed was slow torture. Like mad things we ran about where there
was room, unable to stand still as long as we were on the ship and he on
shore. To have crossed the ocean only to come within a few yards of him,
unable to get nearer till all the fuss was over, was dreadful enough.
But to hear other passengers called who had no reason for hurry, while
we were left among the last, was unendurable.

Oh, dear! Why can't we get off the hateful ship? Why can't papa come to
us? Why so many ceremonies at the landing?

We said good-bye to our friends as their turn came, wishing we were in
their luck. To give us something else to think of, papa succeeded in
passing us some fruit; and we wondered to find it anything but a great
wonder, for we expected to find everything marvellous in the strange
country.

Still the ceremonies went on. Each person was asked a hundred or so
stupid questions, and all their answers were written down by a very slow
man. The baggage had to be examined, the tickets, and a hundred other
things done before anyone was allowed to step ashore, all to keep us
back as long as possible.

Now imagine yourself parting with all you love, believing it to be a
parting for life; breaking up your home, selling the things that years
have made dear to you; starting on a journey without the least
experience in travelling, in the face of many inconveniences on account
of the want of sufficient money; being met with disappointment where it
was not to be expected; with rough treatment everywhere, till you are
forced to go and make friends for yourself among strangers; being
obliged to sell some of your most necessary things to pay bills you did
not willingly incur; being mistrusted and searched, then half starved,
and lodged in common with a multitude of strangers; suffering the
miseries of seasickness, the disturbances and alarms of a stormy sea for
sixteen days; and then stand within, a few yards of him for whom you did
all this, unable to even speak to him easily. How do you feel?

Oh, it's our turn at last! We are