not to
attempt it. She liked to have things that other people had. She however
objected most to the "ball" part. She could indeed still dance a minuet,
but she was not sure she could get on in the "Boston dip."

The little boys said they would like the "fancy" part and "dressing up."
They remembered their delight when they browned their faces for Hindus,
at their charades, just for a few minutes; and what fun it would be to
wear their costumes through a whole evening! Mrs. Peterkin shook her
head; it was days and days before the brown had washed out of their
complexions.

Still, she too was interested in the "dressing up." If they should wear
costumes, they could make them of things that might be left behind, that
they had done wearing, if they could only think of the right kind of
things.

Mrs. Peterkin, indeed, had already packed up, although they were not to
leave for two months, for she did not want to be hurried at the last.
She and Elizabeth Eliza went on different principles in packing.

Elizabeth Eliza had been told that you really needed very little to
travel with,--merely your travelling dress and a black silk. Mrs.
Peterkin, on the contrary, had heard it was best to take everything you
had, and then you need not spend your time shopping in Paris. So they
had decided upon adopting both ways. Mrs. Peterkin was to take her
"everything," and already had all the shoes and stockings she should
need for a year or two. Elizabeth Eliza, on the other hand, prepared a
small valise. She consoled herself with the thought that if she should
meet anything that would not go into it, she could put it in one of her
mother's trunks.

It was resolved to give the fancy ball.

Mr. Peterkin early determined upon a character. He decided to be Julius
Caesar. He had a bald place on the top of his head, which he was told
resembled that of the great Roman; and he concluded that the dress would
be a simple one to get up, requiring only a sheet for a toga.

Agamemnon was inclined to take the part which his own name represented,
and he looked up the costume of the Greek king of men. But he was
dissatisfied with the representation given of him in Dr. Schliemann's
"Mykenae." There was a picture of Agamemnon's mask, but very much
battered. He might get a mask made in that pattern, indeed, and the
little boys were delighted with the idea of battering it. Agamemnon
would like to wear a mask, then he would have no trouble in keeping up