rriage," said Solomon John.

"I am afraid the trunk would not go on the back of a carriage,"
said Mrs.

Peterkin.

"The hackman could not lift it, either," said Mr. Peterkin.

"People do travel with a great deal of baggage," said Elizabeth Eliza.

"And with very large trunks," said Agamemnon.

"Still they are trunks that can be moved," said Mr. Peterkin, giving
another try at the trunk in vain. "I am afraid we must give it up," he
said; "it would be such a trouble in going from place to place."

"We would not mind if we got it to the place," said Elizabeth Eliza.

"But how to get it there?" Mr. Peterkin asked, with a sigh.

"This is our first obstacle," said Agamemnon; "we must do our best to
conquer it."

"What is an obstacle?" asked the little boys.

"It is the trunk," said Solomon John.

"Suppose we look out the word in the dictionary," said Agamemnon,
taking the large volume from the trunk. "Ah, here it is--" And he read:--
"OBSTACLE, an impediment."

"That is a worse word than the other," said one of the little boys.

"But listen to this," and Agamemnon continued: "Impediment is something
that entangles the feet; obstacle, something that stands in the way;
obstruction, something that blocks up the passage; hinderance, something
that holds back."

"The trunk is all these," said Mr. Peterkin, gloomily.

"It does not entangle the feet," said Solomon John, "for it can't move."

"I wish it could," said the little boys together.

Mrs. Peterkin spent a day or two in taking the things out of the trunk
and putting them away.

"At least," she said, "this has given me some experience in packing."

And the little boys felt as if they had quite been a journey.

But the family did not like to give up their plan. It was suggested that
they might take the things out of the trunk, and pack it at the station;
the little boys could go and come with the things. But Elizabeth Eliza
thought the place too public.

Gradually the old contents of the great trunk went back again to it.

At length a friend unexpectedly offered to lend Mr. Peterkin a
good-sized family trunk. But it was late in the season, and so the
journey was put off from that summer.

But now the trunk was sent round to the house, and a family consultation
was held about packing it. Many things would have to be left at home, it
was so much smaller than the grandmother's hair-trunk. But Agamemnon had
been studying the atlas through the winter, an