"We are not a family for an emergency," said Agamemnon.

"What do you suppose they did in Philadelphia at the Exhibition,
when there were more people than cups and saucers?" asked
Elizabeth Eliza. "Could not you go and inquire? I know the lady
from Philadelphia is talking about the Exhibition, and telling how
she stayed at home to receive friends. And they must have had
trouble there! Could not you go in and ask, just as if you wanted to
know?"

Agamemnon looked into the room, but there were too many
talking with the lady from Philadelphia.

"If we could only look into some book," he said,­"the
encyclopaedia or the dictionary, they are such a help sometimes!"

At this moment he thought of his "Great Triumphs of Great Men,"
that he was reading just now. He had not reached the lives of the
Stephensons, or any of the men of modern times. He might skip
over to them,­he knew they were men for emergencies.

He ran up to his room, and met Solomon John coming down with
chairs.

"That is a good thought," said Agamemnon. "I will bring down
more upstairs chairs."

"No," said Solomon John; "here are all that can come down; the
rest of the bedroom chairs match bureaus, and they never will
do!"