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CHAPTER VI.

And now I come to the day—or rather the early morning of the day—when the good ship steamed into the beautiful Bay of Naples with her colors flying, her band playing, and a crowd of excited and early risers amongst the passengers at the deck railings. Amongst them, of course, were our little couple and Mamma and Papa, and the children were wild with delight over the novelty of the scenes before them: the swarms of small native boats, which hung around under the steamship's sides, at her bow, and under her stern; the natives themselves, calling out in their whining tones for "Monie, monie!" (money); the little Italian lads who were constantly diving for the pennies some of the laughing passengers were tossing into the water.

You would not believe they could possibly have found those pennies (they were not "pennies" as we call our coppers, but small coin of not even the value of one of our pennies, and which were called "centesimi") in the water; but then you must know the water in the Bay of Naples is very blue—oh! a beautiful blue—and very transparent, and those small imps of divers would dart head-first down below the surface, and catch the coin in their teeth, and come up laughing, ready for more.

Our children had, during the voyage, seen porpoises jumping out of the water, and had seen the signalling of the few passing ships, and had thought those sights great fun. Think, then, how "all-overish with gladness" they felt here in Naples harbor, watching these foreign scenes, and so happy with the novelty of their position that they fairly longed to open their rosy mouths and whoop after their usual fashion at home.

They looked ahead of them and saw the pretty city of Naples gleaming in the shine of the early rising sun, with its terraced gardens rising one above the other in masses of green foliage, through which the gaily-colored roofs of houses and other buildings could be seen. It made a charming and picturesque sight for everybody; and even those who had seen it all many times before, perhaps, felt the same thrill of delight as our dear little couple were feeling as they beheld it all for the very first time.

"It makes me feel so full in here!" said Polly, to her mother, while her blue eyes shone like stars.

"Me, too!" echoed Master Teddy, placing his hand as Polly did, on his heart, and drawing a long breath.

But we must hurry on with our story. (Don't blame me, children, for hurrying, and leaving out much you would like to know, but blame the Publishers, for it is all their fault, I'll tell you privately.) When, at last, our party found themselves on the dock, and were waiting for Papa to finish attending to the baggage, Polly saw something which made her cry out: "Oh! look!" It was a little bower all decorated with large yellow lemons, larger than any lemons the children had ever seen before. The bower was coming straight towards them, and they couldn't see what made it move. From the top of the little arch (the inside of the arch, which was just like a tiny summer-house) more big lemons were hanging, and also some little glasses, which were hanging by handles. As the queer thing came nearer, the children discovered that the small bower was built upon a little hand-cart, and that a brown-faced Italian lad, no older than Teddy, was drawing it between shafts, as though he had been a little pony. He was so nearly hidden by vines and lemon boughs that it was no wonder he had not at first been seen by Teddy and Polly, whose bright eyes were seeing so much. Nestling amongst vines on the bottom of the cart was a bright tin pail, and that was full of lemonade, which looked very clean and nice because it had just been freshly made. The little lemonade vendor came close to our party, and began a low, bird-like beautiful whistle. It sounded like a flute at first, then like a bird, then like a sweet Eolian harp, and even Mamma was delighted to hear it. After he had finished, his black eyes twinkled, and he said in broken English which Italian children readily pick up: "Buy limonade! ze signorina buy limonade? vera chip" (cheap), "on'y fiva centa glass!" He filled a glass and handed it to Polly—"ze little mees!"

"We're very fond of lemonade, Auntie Darling," said Teddy, casting wistful eyes upon the cool drink.

"Well, you shall have some then," laughed Mamma, and Teddy and Polly took their first refreshment on Italian shores. The little Beppo grinned at them, pulled a ragged cap from a mass of black, close curling hair, and, dropping his centesimi (with which Mrs. Darling had provided herself before leaving the steamer, at the purser's office) into his pocket, he began a merry whistle again and moved off in search of more custom.

CHAPTER VII.

They saw men and women in queer costumes of gay colors—the women without hats or bonnets—going about the streets, and sunning themselves in the doorways, combing their children's heads or their own untidy locks; they saw them hanging out their washing on the backs of chairs right out in the street; they saw a woman and a cow together pulling a big wagon; they saw a wee bit of a donkey harnessed with an ox, and both tugging at a cart as placidly as though they weren't a funny pair; they saw a cow, a horse, and a donkey, all three harnessed before a vegetable-cart, on which sat a driver "not even as old as Teddy," the children were sure, though he may have been older than he looked, as so many of the poorer class of children in Naples are stunted in