Boston.

"I know one thing I'll never forget about Niagara," said Mary Jane as the train pulled out of the station, "and that is that Niagara Falls is awfully wet!"

"And next time we start on a trip," added Mrs. Merrill, "we'll carry umbrellas instead of packing them."

Mr. Merrill waited and had dinner in the Buffalo station with them and then saw them off for Boston before his train for Chicago pulled in.

"Have a good time," he called as their train pulled away, "and remember, I shall want to hear everything about Harvard and Class Day and Boston."

Mary Jane promised to see and remember every single thing, then she turned back to their section which the porter was already making up for the night.

"You don't have to do a thing for me Mother," she said happily. "'Cause I know how to put my shoes in the hammock and take off my hair ribbon and roll it up and everything. And I'm going right straight to sleep so I can wake up early, early in the morning."

"That's a good idea," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "for early, early in the morning we shall be getting into Boston and Uncle Hal will be there to meet us."

FIRST GLIMPSES OF BOSTON

"Like to be brushed?"

Mary Jane turned from the window to see the porter standing by her, brush in hand ready to make her tidy for getting off the train. She looked questioningly at her mother and Mrs. Merrill replied, "Yes, dear, let him brush you off so you will be spick and span when we meet Hal."

So Mary Jane followed the porter down to the end of the aisle where he brushed and brushed till there wasn't a speck of dust on that pretty Peter Thompson suit. Alice and Mrs. Merrill had their turns next, then the porter took their hand baggage down toward the door.

"Do we get there now, Mother?" asked Mary Jane, "right away quick now?"

"We certainly do," answered Mrs. Merrill, "we're there this minute. Come girlies."

As the train came to a stop, Mary Jane looked out of the window in the narrow hallway by the dressing room—she wanted to be sure to get a glimpse of the wonderful Boston she had heard so much about. And at the very first glance, she spied Uncle Hal's smiling face close up outside of her very window. Alice saw him too and they waved and tried to speak and he grinned and motioned to the car door. In a twinkle they were off the train, Uncle Hal had picked up their bags, and they were walking up the stairs to the street.

Of course everybody talked at once, folks always do when they are met at the train, but through it all Mary Jane got the idea that they were walking to the hotel because it was so very, very near, and that Uncle Hal had time to visit with them a while before he went back to college for some last duties before Class Day.

Alice and Uncle Hal walked on ahead talking a blue streak about teams and baseball and all sorts of things that Mary Jane, for her part, didn't find particularly interesting. She was glad to be walking with her mother so she could look and ask all she liked. Five minutes walk and they were in a broad "square" framed on every side by fine looking buildings.

"That's the library I've told you so much about," said Mrs. Merrill nodding her head toward the left, "and this, I think," looking ahead to the right, "is our hotel."

She was right for just then Alice and Uncle Hal turned into the hotel and in a very few minutes they were all seated in the room Hal had engaged for them so many weeks before.

"There now, he's gone and I can look around," said Mary Jane as the door closed behind the boy who had carried up their bags. She slipped down from the big chair where she had primly settled herself and began exploring. One big bed, one little bed, lots of drawers in dressers and cupboards, a lovely white bathroom and, over in the corner of the room overlooking the Square, a desk and several easy chairs pulled together just right for visiting.

"How in the world did you know just exactly the kind of a room I'd like?" asked Mary Jane when she had finished her first tour of exploring.

"Well," said Uncle Hal, much pleased to think she liked it all, "I can't say that I really knew, but I did try pretty hard to guess."

"Now as soon as the trunk comes," continued Mary Jane, "let's unpack it and show him our new dresses. We've new shoes too," she added proudly, "for Class Day you know."

"Fine!" replied her uncle, "I know I'm going to be proud as a peacock of my family when I introduce them around to-morrow. But I'll tell you, Mary Jane," he added persuasively, "I know how slow those expressmen are commencement week and you don't. Suppose we keep the dress for a surprise to me to-morrow and go for a walk now while I have some time."

"I'd like that," agreed Mary Jane, "only what'll they do if the trunk comes while we are walking?"

"They put it in your room all ready for you," said Uncle Hal.

"Then I'm going walking with you," announced Mary Jane.

"And I'm going too," said Alice, "I just can't hardly wait till I see everything."

"And I'm going too," laughed Mrs. Merrill, as she put her hat back on, "because I don't want to miss anything either."

"Aren't we missing something anyway?" asked Alice as they walked from the room.

Mrs. Merrill and Hal looked back into the room.

"No-o," she answered, "I guess not. What did you think we were leaving?"

"I didn't think we were leaving anything," said Alice half laughing, half embarrassed, "but—"

"Oh, I know," announced Mary Jane laughingly, "I'm missing it too. It's breakfast."

"You don't mean to say—" exclaimed Uncle Hal. "That's certainly one on me! You see, I'm so little used to having my family come to see me, and so very glad to see them when they get here, that I actually forgot breakfast. We'll have to get an extra good one to make up for it."

And an extra good one it certainly was; for Mary Jane had strawberries and cream and toast and fish and hashed brown potatoes and a cup of delicious hot cocoa with whipped cream. While they ate, Mary Jane told Uncle Hal more about her Class Day frock.

"It's white, and pink ribbons—lovely long crispy ribbons," she told him, "and new shoes, pumps just like grown-up ladies." Of course Uncle Hal was much impressed as Mary Jane had hoped he would be, but neither he nor Mary Jane herself would ever in the world have guessed the trouble those pretty new pumps were going to make before another day was over!

Breakfast finished, they went for their walk, going through the Square and down as far as the Commons. The city looked fresh and clean, after a rain the night before and the flowers in the Commons nodded their fresh blooms and looked as though they had grown on purpose to make Mary Jane think Boston was beautiful.

"Now then," said Uncle Hal,