y,
when every one knew every one else, "and the children shall take Sunny
Boy up to their playroom on the top floor."
"We brought a little candy," explained Mrs. Horton, giving Sunny Boy
the box. "Are you willing to have it passed?"
Mrs. Kennedy was, so each of the children had three pieces and climbed
the stairs to the playroom chattering like old friends.
"Have you been to the ac-quarium?" asked Paul, pronouncing it as if it
were two words. He was rocking Sunny Boy on his rocking horse, which
was as large as a small pony and had real hair in its mane and tail.
"Got one at home," announced Sunny Boy contentedly. "There were ten
goldfish but one died."
"Oh, Paul means the real aquarium," explained Alice. "Down at the
Battery, with the queerest fish you ever saw, and big tanks, and
corals, and everything."
No, Sunny Boy hadn't seen that. He was so much interested in Alice's
descriptions that when the two mothers came up to see what they were
doing, they found them still talking about the fish.
"Hasn't Sunny Boy been down to the Battery?" asked Mrs. Kennedy. "Why,
we must all go. How about to-morrow?"
Mrs. Horton explained that she had planned to go to the Statue of
Liberty the following day.
"You can do that easily in the afternoon," said Mrs. Kennedy. "We
might as well make a day of it. I have to get the children ready for
school, and one day is all I can spare. Suppose we meet at the Battery
in the morning and see the aquarium. We'll have lunch somewhere and
take the boat right from the Battery for Bedloe's Island."
So it was arranged that they should meet the next morning, and Sunny
Boy and Mother went back to the hotel to tell Daddy all about their
plans and to hear about his busy day.
As soon as Sunny Boy and Mother entered the park at the Battery the
following morning, the glint of water in the sun attracted him.
"Why is it the Battery?" he asked. "Are there guns?"
"There used to be," said Mother. "Long ago, when instead of a park,
this end of New York was high rocks, a water battery guarded the town
and was used a little in the Revolution. That is where the Battery
gets its name. The aquarium is housed in the old fort."
"I see Alice," cried Sunny Boy.
"Yes, here they all are," said Mother.
The Kennedy family came up to them, and together they walked toward
the dingy building where the queer fish, Sunny had been told, lived.
"It doesn't look much, but think who's been in it," r
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