It was most humiliating for high-spirited children to be so
misunderstood. Pop lacked refined tastes. It was a harsh thing to say of
one's parent, but when you came right down to it Pop was a hopeless
plebeian.

Pop noticed the difference himself. He would have doubted that these
magnificent youngsters could be his own if that had not implied a
criticism of his unimpeachable wife. So he gave her all the credit. For
_Mere_ was different. She was well read; she entertained charmingly; she
loved good clothes, up-to-the-minute hats; she knew who was who and
what was what. She was ambitious, progressive. She nearly took up French
once.

But Pop was shabby. Pop always wore a suit until it glistened and his
children ridiculed him into a new one. As for wearing evening dress, in
the words of Gerald they "had to blindfold him and back him into his
soup-and-fish, even on the night the Italian Opera Company came to
town."

Pop never could take them anywhere. A vacation was a thing of horror to
him. It was almost impossible to drag him to a lake or the sea, and it
was quite impossible to keep him there more than a few days. His
business always called him home.

And such a business! Dry-goods!--and in a small town.

And such a town, with such a name! To the children who knew their Paris
and their London, their New York and their Washington, a visit home was
like a sentence to jail. It was humiliating to make a good impression on
acquaintances of importance and then have to confess to a home town
named Waupoos.

People either said, "I beg your pardon!" as if they had not heard it
right, or they laughed and said, "Honestly?"

The children had tried again and again to pry Pop out of Waupoos, but he
clung to it like a limpet. He had had opportunities, too, to move his
business to big cities, but he was afraid to venture. He was fairly sure
of sustenance in Waupoos so long as he nursed every penny; but he could
never find the courage to transplant himself to another place.

The worst of his cowardice was that he blamed the children--at least, he
said he dared not face a year or two of possible loss lest they might
need something. So he stayed in Waupoos and managed somehow to keep the
family afloat and the store open.

When _Mere_ revolted and longed for a glimpse of the outer world he
always advised her to take a trip and have a good time. He always said
he could afford that much, and he took an interest in seeing that she