Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/81

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THE RANDALL FAMILY 73

a gale of fun. After a little while, Miss Anna took her seat at the piano, while her sister danced with us. We had a fancy cotillion, and it would put Mr. Papanti into hysterics to see us. The last figure was the ' Car of Jug- gernaut,' and Miss Belinda made this conundrum : ' Why is a drunkard like the Car .>' Because it is Jug or nought. Afterwards Mr. Randall told us stories. He invited me to go with him to his country-seat at Stow to stay a little while. He showed me drawings of his house, and I thought they were quite pretty. About eleven Edwin came for us, and he stayed a little while looking at pictures, after which we came home. Mr. Randall went home with us, and took an umbrella, as it rained.

Saturday, May J, iS^l. . . . Mr. Randall had ap- pointed to-day to go to Stow, so I busied myself about putting up some things in a carpet-bag which I thought I should want, but which I afterwards found were an incum- brance. He came at one, or about one, and we went down to the Fitchburg depot, and, as we found there was no hurry, we crossed the bridge and saw the great freight station, of chairs, tubs, pails, &c. We did not stop long, but went back to the cars, which soon started. We passed Charlestown, Somerville, Cambridge, West Cam- bridge, Waltham, Stony Brook, Weston, Lincoln, Concord, and South Acton, where we got out. Mr. Randall wished to see Colonel Faulkner on some business ; so, while they were talking, I went to see the stream which turns the Colonel's mill. It has a very pretty cataract, or, as I sup- pose it is called, dam. It was some time before another train would come along, so Mr. Randall thought that we would walk to the other station, two or three miles distant. On the way he turned into a path in the woods, to show me what a pretty place it was. After admiring it suf-

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