The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-02-25
SELECTED STORY.
THE VISIT TO LONGO,
AND THE FOUR CHILDREN WHO
MADE 1T.
BY JULIA A. EASTMAN.
This was how it began.

This was how it began.
lou see we Neht TO a picnic. 1--WE"
means Blue Boy and myself, Pm 1urvey Top
and our two sisters. Blue Boy is not the
little boy blue that "blew up the horn" We
call him that name because OF his indigo suit,
and then because be looks like the picture OF
that otner one i'll our Mother Goose. That
picture ought to be portrait OF our blue boy,
because it is precisely like him. His cheeks
stick out exactly So like trumpeter, and like
two red, toy balloons, just blown up, aud he
hasen'. any eyes at all to speak OF, because he
has so much cheek. tom says this is slang,
but don't mean 1t Tor that
Kitoin Is my sister, and Blue Boys sister
is Deedv' This ueaas DID and these capt
tails don't stand Tor doctor of divinity but tor
Daily Din. think it is pretty name, and
she's the pretliest girl know.
Wei, we went ~ the picnic.
and Blue Boy-l Ill 1.-Two months older than
he is-ntIted the girls, and we invited them
to take the applicant and seedcakes. Tom
says applicant and seed-cakes are "a woman,s
sphere. SO OF course they carried 'em; be-
sides. cur mothers packed a hamper fuli OF
goodies. There were pies, and cookies, anu
cold chicken, and boiled eggs, and sandwiches.
Deedy SAID they'd lbe sandwich as iu d
twiukiing ter Blue Boy got hold OF them.
We laughed at this When B.ue Boy laughs
you can't see bis eyes at all, anu ne cant see
YOU at all, because his eyes shut up tight
every time his mouth opens. itS as though
there was string somewhere behind, like a
Jumping jack which pulled his mouth open
and his eyes shut.
The picnic was on an island. l mean it's
an lsaLd when Chicke's creek is high. 1t
was high that day. We've got the jelliest
boat painted red and green, with her name,
Nautilus" in black letters on the side.
We were expecting to have the grandest
time, going ION all fours," as Kitoln sad, but
just at the last, my mother said we mustn't go
alone. Now wasn't that exasperating? put
it to you and put it to my mother, how she
would have liked II, when she was little girl
and had got all her plans made for a jolly
day with little papa, with two other small
peope-thats Blue Boys father and mother
sitting over against her. Mamma took rel
"ee in silence behind the person whom she
had chosen 10 60 with US. That person was
The-kose oi-the-World. Her French name
j. Ros" mond. but we English ii. She is very
big and very black. She is a woman and
sls.ei. sic Was princess in her own island
OF Lonee. Her ia her was king of Longo and
wore yellow crown. ROse-Ot-the- World
wears yellow tulban instead. 1 think the
kings families mus. be very large in those
countries. because all the colored persons l
have ever seen were princes and princesses,
or chiefs and cLiefesses in their native land.
We reached the island at two O'Clock.
"Shai' we fish first or eat first? / think we
will eat first"
aus was the way Blue Boy began, like
katherine in the German tale. So he pounc-
ed down into the hamper, and came up with
sandwich and sardine. His eyes were
shut tor ten minutes after. BY that time
three tarts and six ginger crackers had gone
the way Of the sandwich and the sardine.
iom says Blue Boy is a ".victim to chronic
Starvation don't know exactly what this
means, but it must be something funny by the
way the home loiks laughed at it.
AT o'clock we started to sail around the
world. Is. B. said 1 write B. B. instead OF
Blue Boy, tor am tired writing the whole
words, and like to make the bic capital B S,
with long tails TO them-B. B. said thai
'Cbickes creek was as good place to start
round the world from as New York or Liver
pool, SO far as he knew" so we weighed an
cher and sci sail. | wish to tell lou that the
cable was fish line, and the anchor fish
hook, and our sail was Daily Dilrs pocket
handkerchief hung on fishing pole. As we
embarked, l whispered in Deedy's pink ear:
"oweet maid, wilt thou go with me?" and
she pn' her mouth under my hat brim, and
mufmured.
10 ,.ne worlds farthest bound, dearest
with thee"
stands for Blue Boy,) between the munching
oil the sixth ginger cracker ask Kitolin:
witt thou share my fortunes, talrest OF
thy sectw he means sex and Kit rolled UP
her eyes-fm obliged to tell you that she is a
little cross eyed, if she is my sister; and it
shows worse, a great deal, when she rolls
them up, as she uid when she answele ed:
"On to the bitter end, o love, with tbeew
Il suppose must tell You that we are not
Quakers, as yon might tn nix, and we don't
talk this way every day. But Cynthia that's
my cousin, has just been reading us "Child-
rem oil the Abbey and that's the way for lovers
to talk. 1--WE found this out from Amanda
and Lord Mortimer.
AS Tor the other smart things which went
In under my hat brim, aud got tangled in
Deedy's curls, as we sailed, and sailed. YOU
may be sure they're all recorded on heart of
hearts, ano recorded also in the private diary
that grandmother gave me last Christmas
But that's no reason why they should be re-
corded here, and they shall not be. l am de
ternined not to reveal them. and will not
he induced. Wild horses shall not drag them
from me.
We sailed and sailed aud sailed. The stream
grew wider, the aders were farther apart, and
the white canvas-Dafy Dil's pocket hand
kerchlef-rounded, more and more, to the
breeze. The blue hills of our home sank out
OF sight behind the horIzon-of the princess
umbrella. forgot to say that the Rose of the
World had gone into ignoble exile uuder a
large umbrella, in the stern of the Nautilus !:
and as We talked, we could hear noises, by
which we knew that the daughter OF the royal
house OF Longo was wandering among the
palaces of her ace. her foot upon her native
desert, in dreams.
Suddenly aomC thing happened.
am very anxious that you should believe
that what happened really did happen; and
surely, you can't think would take the troub.
lie to write out all this, ii it was just made I'D
out OF nothineP Beside, if say it is true,
hope you'll believe it is true, because although
I'm not the father OF his country, and never
said, Mother, cannot tell you a lie" as he
dld-lve got the picture OF him and his moth
err, and he door open, and the Ratchet, and
the chopped cherry tree-because haven't
any Ratchet, nor any cherry tree, and never
thought Of telling lie about it to my mother
in all my life, and because, as l began to say,
Pm son OF his country, suppose, and /
don't remember that ever told but one lie,
and then nv father did something to make
me remember not to tell another. So you may
be sure This is exactly as tell you now, that,
just as was teaching Daffy Dill TO row, and
had got her curls-they are soft, like yellow
embroidery foss-tangled in my coat buttons
all at once, don't know how, never shall
know, there was great rocking of the boat.
and up sprang the Rose of the World, and NUT.
tered a charmed word in her native language.
the Lonso language, you know, and then she
struck out her fingers like the picture, in the
Bible primer of "Ethiopia stretching out her
hands" then she fal ped her arms three times
hard soft she almost upset the boat, and |
caught hold of Deedy, and the next knew.
she was gone! That woman and sister, that
princess of Longo, that Rose oi-the World
wasn't there! No more was her umbrella
Bnt, instead, a great, dark bird, The arms
had changed to wings, the yellow turban to a
golden crest, and the umbrella into a broad,
sweeping tail. This tail was tied somehow, 70
the PROV, and we were scudding along faster
than any steamer that ever 1 heard of. Wby!
tt was as if we'd been fred out of gun, or sant
up in sky rocket, or dumped down on fly
ing star. Whew! 1t takes my breath away
just 10 think of it.
If you don't believe this, of course, it will be
because you weren't there, that you dom be- |
lieve 1t. All have to say is, if you weren't |
there, tour other people we're; and if your |
eyes didn't see it, eight other eyes did, and it's
just four times eight and thirty two times as
certain as though you had seen it, and we
hadn't.