eard you express it."

"How very much there is to see here!" remarked Dr. Conly--"men, women, and
children from all parts of the world, clad in their own odd, native
attire; Chinese, Japanese, Dahomeyans, Nubians, wild Arabs, Persians,
Soudanese, Algerians, Javanese, and Cingalese."

"And some of the buildings are as singular in appearance as the people who
occupy them," added his wife.

"Let us visit the village and castle of Blarney," said Rosie.

"You want to kiss the Blarney Stone, do you?" asked Herbert laughingly.

"No need of that," said Walter; "she can blarney fast enough if she wants
to, and that without ever having seen the stone."

"What is blarney, papa?" asked little Elsie.

"Coaxing, wheedling, and flattering," he replied. "The village we are
going to see is said to be a fair representation of one of that name in
Ireland, about four miles from the city of Cork, in which there is a
castle called Blarney Castle, which has stood there for more than four
hundred years. The castle has a tower, as you will see, and on the top of
it is a stone the kissing of which is said to confer the gift of ability
to wheedle and flatter. But the true stone is said to be another in a wall
where it can be kissed only by a person held over the parapet."

"Oh, I shouldn't like that at all, papa!" Elsie exclaimed. "I'd be afraid
of falling, and I shouldn't like to kiss a dirty stone."

"Well, daughter, I shall never ask you to do so," he answered, with a
kindly smile down into the bright, rosy little face.

They were entering the village as he spoke. Some little time was spent
there very agreeably, after which they returned to the _Dolphin_ for the
night.

CHAPTER XII.

There was a gathering of friends and relatives on the _Dolphin_ that
evening: all from Pleasant Plains were there; Chester and Frank Dinsmore
also and the Ion family. The brother and sister of Grandma Elsie, and her
eldest daughter with her husband and children, had paid their visit to the
Fair at an earlier date and returned home.

Expecting to do a good deal of entertaining Captain Raymond had taken care
to have his boat well provisioned, and all were cordially invited to stay
and take dinner on board.

No one declined, and they were a pleasant, lively party, each having
something interesting to tell of the experiences of the day, and all
agreeing that the Fair was well worth the trouble and expense of the
journey to reach it, and the hun