So they tried this; and they all thought it was a very pretty sight to
see Elizabeth Eliza playing on the piano, while she sat on the piazza,
with the honeysuckle vines behind her.

It was very pleasant, too, moonlight evenings. Mr. Peterkin liked to
take a doze on his sofa in the room; but the rest of the family liked
to sit on the piazza. So did Elizabeth Eliza, only she had to have her
back to the moon.

All this did very well through the summer; but, when the fall came,
Mr. Peterkin thought the air was too cold from the open window, and
the family did not want to sit out on the piazza.

Elizabeth Eliza practised in the mornings with her cloak on; but she
was obliged to give up her music in the evenings the family shivered
so.

[Illustration]

One day, when she was talking with the lady from Philadelphia, she
spoke of this trouble.

The lady from Philadelphia looked surprised, and then said, "But why
don't you turn the piano round?"

One of the little boys pertly said, "It is a square piano."

But Elizabeth Eliza went home directly, and, with the help of
Agamemnon and Solomon John, turned the piano round.

"Why did we not think of that before?" said Mrs. Peterkin. "What shall
we do when the lady from Philadelphia goes home again?"

THE PETERKINS TRY TO BECOME WISE.

They were sitting round the breakfast-table, and wondering what they
should do because the lady from Philadelphia had gone away. "If," said
Mrs. Peterkin, "we could only be more wise as a family!" How could
they manage it? Agamemnon had been to college, and the children all
went to school; but still as a family they were not wise. "It comes
from books," said one of the family. "People who have a great many
books are very wise." Then they counted up that there were very few
books in the house,--a few school-books and Mrs. Peterkin's cook-book
were all.

"That's the thing!" said Agamemnon. "We want a library."

[Illustration]

"We want a library!" said Solomon John. And all of them exclaimed, "We
want a library!"

"Let us think how we shall get one," said Mrs. Peterkin. "I have
observed that other people think a great deal of thinking."

So they all sat and thought a great while.

Then said Agamemnon, "I will make a library. There are some boards in
the wood-shed, and I have a hammer and some nails, and perhaps we can
borrow some hinges, and there we have our library!"

[Illustration]

They were all very much pleased at t