What subjects could be bigger than these, and more important to the World and Jonesville?  Not any; not one.

And what solid comfort I took through the hull caboodle of ’em—­Peace Societies, Temperance, Wimmen’s Rights, Sabbath Schools, Kindergarten, Christian Science, Woman’s protective union, Improvement in dress, etc., etc., and etcetry.

I sot happy as a queen through ’em all, and so did the girls, a-listenin’ to every topic hearn on the great subject of makin’ the old world happier and better behaved.

Josiah didn’t seem to care so much about it.

He would often excuse himself—­sometimes he would have a headache, but most always his headaches would improve so that he could git out into the city somewhere or onto the Fair ground.  He would most always recooperate pretty soon after we started to the Congress, or Lecture Hall, or wherever our intellectual treat wuz.

[Illustration:  Sometimes he would have a headache.]

And when I’d come home I’d find him pretty chipper.

And then often the children would come after us in a carriage and take us all over the city and out into the suburbs, and display all the strange sights to us, or they would take us to the beautiful parks, through the long, smooth, beautiful boulevards.

And no city in the world can go ahead of Chicago in this, or so it seems to me—­the number and beauty of their parks, and the approaches to them.  There wuz a considerable number of railroads to cross, and I wuz afraid of bein’ killed time and agin a-crossin’ of ’em, and would mention the fact anon, if not oftener; but I didn’t git killed, not once.

Wall, so Time run along; roses and ripe fruit wreathed his old hour-glass, and we didn’t hardly realize how fast he wuz a-swingin’ his old scythe, and how rapid he was a-walkin’.

Isabelle had promised to come and stay a week with me jest as soon as a room was vacant.

And so the day that Gertrude Plank left I writ a affectionate note to her, and reminded her of her promise, and that I should expect her that evenin’ without fail.

I sent the note in the mornin’, and at my pardner’s request, and also agreeable to my own wishes, we meandered out into the Fair grounds agin.

There wuz a number of things that we hadn’t seen yet, and so there would have been if we had stayed there a hull year.

But that day we thought we would tackle the Battle Ship, so we went straight to it the nearest way.

Wall, as I looked off and got a plain view of the Illinois, it was headed towards me jest right, and I thought it wuz shaped some like my biggest flat-iron, or sad-iron, as some call ’em.

And I don’t know why, I am sure, unless it is because wimmen are middlin’ sad when they git a big ironin’ in the clothes-basket, and only one pair of hands to do it, and mebby green wood, or like as not have to pick up their wood, only jest them arms to do it all, them and their sad-irons.