Summary

The narrator reports that one day, Stuart “put on his sailor suit and his sailor hat” and then set out for a walk, “full of the joy of life and the fear of dogs” (26). Stuart rides the bus into New York City, and the bus conductor says his money is too small to accept. Stuart tells the bus driver he doesn’t like to be “insulted” and the bus driver apologizes, saying, “I had no idea that in all the world there was such a small sailor” (29).

Stuart then arrives at a pond in Central Park, where he watches toy boats on the water. The narrator reports that to Stuart, these boats were “enormous” and “he hoped he would… get aboard one of them and sail away to the far corners of the pond” (31). Stuart then takes a liking to a boat named...