Rosy's papa told her meant "Get out of the way."

And when they were all past there came next a great wagon, piled up with the trunks of trees. The horses which drew this had no bells; but they had a funny sort of post sticking up high between their ears, with lots of things hanging on to it. They had also three pink tassels hanging on their faces, one in front and one on each side. These tassels shook as they went along, and looked so pretty that Rosy thought to herself that if ever she had a toy horse again she would ask nurse to make some little tassels for it just like them. Her papa had told her, too, that they were to keep off the flies, which teased the poor horses very often dreadfully. And of course Rosy would not like her horse to be teased.

But the carriage went on while she was thinking this; and soon they saw four old women coming along the road with large baskets, full of some green stuff, on their heads. The little girl did not say anything as they went by, but she looked very particularly to see how they were dressed.

Now I must tell you why she did this.

In the first place, then, she had never seen any old women a bit like them before.

They walked all in a row with their baskets on their heads, and with their hands stuck into their sides, and they talked very fast as they came along. On their heads they wore very, very large hats, with small crowns. Rosy had never seen such hats before, and she heard her mamma say that she had never seen them either. Under these great hats they had nice white caps, with colored handkerchiefs over them, which hung down behind. They had, besides, other colored handkerchiefs over their shoulders, and two of them had red gowns.

Now Rosy had had a present given her in Paris. It was a piece of French money, worth ten English pennies; and with this money she had bought ten Dutch dolls, which nursey was going to dress for her. At first she meant them to make an English school; but now that she had seen so many funny people she thought she would like her dolls to be dressed like the people in Cannes, because then they would just show her dear grandmamma how very nice they looked, and how very different to English people.

She was very quiet for a little while, because she was making this grand plan; but they soon turned out of the narrow street, and all at once she saw the sea again.

They had come now to what was called the "port," and there were all the great ships which had come home lately, and were waiting to go out again,—one, two, three, four, five, six, all in a row, quite quiet, and "taking their naps," as Rosy's papa said, "after all their hard work."

He lifted Rosy out first, and said that they would go and look at them, while mamma went into the shops.

Rosy was not quite sure whether she was pleased at that, because sometimes her mamma bought her very nice things, such as toys, or sugar-plums, or cakes, when she took her out shopping. But they soon found plenty to look at, and some funny men with blue coats and cocked hats amused the little girl very much. Her papa wondered why she looked at them so often; but then he did not know Rosy's grand scheme, and how she was thinking of asking nurse to dress one doll just like them. She kept this little plan quite a secret till she got back to her nurse.

It was half the fun to have a secret.

ROSY'S VISIT TO THE COWS.