of
it! what grandeur! to go all by themselves! that was the great point!
not a cousin, or a grandmother, or even a nurse to take care of them;
and they scrabbled up on all the chairs, and jumped down again, and
twirled round and round till Sallie's mother said it was fortunate their
heads, and arms, and legs were all fastened together very strong, or
they would long ago have been whirled off their bodies, and out of the
windows.

I wish you could have seen Sallie having her hair curled that afternoon.
Her mother would be in the act of laying a curl gracefully over one
ear, when Sallie's head would bob suddenly round, and the curl would be
planted right between her eyes, making her squint dreadfully; and when a
curl was to repose on her temple, Sallie would bob the other way, and
the curl would be landed on the back of her head, the end sticking up
like a horn. She _did_ try, but who could keep still, on such a
delightful occasion, when they were going to walk about the world just
like grown people, with their money in their pockets! Sallie even wanted
her mother to lend her a lace veil, and her gold watch, to add to her
dignity--"so as to come home in time for tea, you know, mamma;" but her
mother concluded, as Sallie could not tell the time by the watch, the
necessity for carrying it was rather doubtful. And after considerable
tumbling and popping around like fire-crackers, and making cheeses and
whirligigs, and chattering like a whole army of magpies, the children
were dressed, at last, and sent on their way rejoicing.

When they got into the street, they took hold of each other's hands _and
ran all the way_, as an inevitable matter of course, and arrived at the
ice cream saloon in a laughing, breathless condition, so very little
like grown people that I am afraid they must have forgotten their
dignity, or left it locked up in the bookcase at home.

They took their seats at one of the marble tables, and with very large
eyes and innumerable giggles gave their order, and then there never
before was such splendid ice cream! It was so cold, they really had to
blow it, and they had to stop a great many times to laugh, and to wonder
what the other people thought of them; at any rate, everybody would
think they were "_instraordinary_" good girls to be allowed to come out
all by themselves.

"Only imagine," continued Sallie, "perhaps, after this, we shall be
_considit_ such excellent children--kind of oldey and serious,