to him.

Mrs. Peterkin had expressed a desire to see the famous Cleopatra's
Needle which had been brought from Egypt. She had heard it was something
gigantic for a needle, and it would be worth a journey to New York. She
wondered at their bringing it such a distance, and would have supposed
that some of Cleopatra's family would have objected to it if they were
living now.

Agamemnon said that was the truth; there was no one left to object; they
were all mummies under ground, with such heavy pyramids over them that
they would not easily rise to object.

Mr. Peterkin feared that all the pyramids would be brought away in time.
Agamemnon said there were a great many remaining in Egypt. Still, he
thought it would be well to visit Egypt soon, before they were all
brought away, and nothing but the sand left. Mrs. Peterkin said she
would be almost as willing to travel to Egypt as to New York, and it
would seem more worth while to go so far to see a great many than to go
to New York only for one needle.

"That would certainly be a needless expense," suggested Solomon John.

Elizabeth Eliza was anxious to see the Sphinx. Perhaps it would answer
some of the family questions that troubled them day after day.

Agamemnon felt it would be a great thing for the education of the little
boys. If they could have begun with the Egyptian hieroglyphics before
they had learned their alphabet, they would have begun at the right end.
Perhaps it was not too late now to take them to Egypt, and let them
begin upon its old learning. The little boys declared it was none too
late. They could not say the alphabet backward now, and could never
remember whether _u_ came before _v_; and the voyage would be
a long one, and before they reached Egypt, very likely they would have
forgotten all.

It was about this voyage that Mrs. Peterkin had much doubt. What she was
afraid of was getting in and out of the ships and boats. She was afraid
of tumbling into the water between, when she left the wharf. Elizabeth
Eliza agreed with her mother in this, and began to calculate how many
times they would have to change between Boston and Egypt.

There was the ferry-boat across to East Boston would make two changes;
one more to get on board the steamer; then Liverpool--no, to land at
Queenstown would make two more,--four, five changes; Liverpool, six.
Solomon John brought the map, and they counted up. Dover, seven; Calais,
eight; Marseilles, nine; Malta, if they