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Page:On the Way There (1904).djvu/33

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The woman let her eyes sweep up and down the lines of many, many happy children, trooping along the road. "Should you think that I would ever get tired?" she asked, smilingly.

"No!" cried Marjorie, eagerly. "No, no!"

Here her friend stopped to help another child who was calling to her from over the hedge, and Marjorie and the Dream walked slowly on.

Marjorie looked out over the wide, dreary swamp, and then up at the beautiful city. "Oh," she said at last, with a great sigh, "I'm so thankful!"

"Thankful for what?" said the Dream.

"For the beautiful city, and for the smooth white high-road leading to it," said Marjorie.

"Thankful to whom?" said the Dream.

"Thankful to the king who built the city; and to the great, good man who built the road; and to the loving woman who showed me the way."

"I don't see why you should be thankful to the woman," said the Dream. "The city and the road were here all the time. She didn't build either of them. I think that it shows lack of respect to the king and to the great man, who both did such wonderful things, to speak of the woman in the same breath."