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."

"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!"

They were all very much pleased at the idea.

"That's the book-case part," said Elizabeth Eliza; "but where are the
books?"

So they sat and thought a little while, when Solomon John exclaimed, "I
will make a book!"

They all looked at him in wonder.

"Yes," said Solomon John, "books will make us wise, but first I must
make a book."

So they went into the parlor, and sat down to make a book. But there was
no ink.

What should he do for ink? Elizabeth Eliza said she had heard that
nutgalls and vinegar made very good ink. So they decided to make some.
The little boys said they could find some nutgalls up in the woods.
So they all agreed to set out and pick some. Mrs. Peterkins put on her
cape-bonnet, and the little boys got into their india-rubber boots, and
off they went.

The nutgalls were hard to find. There was almost everything else in the
woods,--chestnuts, and walnuts, and small hazel-nuts, and a great many
squirrels; and they had to walk a great way before they found any
nutgalls. At last they came home with a large basket and two nutgalls
in it. Then came the question of the vinegar. Mrs. Peterkin had used her
very last on some beets they had the day before. "Suppose we go and
ask the minister's wife," said Elizabeth Eliza. So they all went to
the minister's wife. She said if they wanted some good vinegar they had
better set a barrel of cider down in the cellar, and in a year or two
it would make very nice vinegar. But they said they wanted it that very
afternoon. When the minister's wife heard this, she said she should be
very glad to let them have some vinegar, and gave them a cupful to carry
home.

So they stirred in the nutgalls, and by the time evening came they had
very good ink.

Then Solomon John wanted a pen. Agamemnon had a steel one, but Solomon
John said, "Poets always used quills." Elizabeth Eliza su