CHAPTER IV.

THE CHILDREN OF MERRIGOLAND.





ONCE upon a time, in the pleasant country of Merrigoland, all the
fathers and mothers, the uncles and aunts, the grandpas and
grandmas, in fact, all the grown-up people of every sort, were
invited to the governor's house to spend a week; and all the cooks
and chambermaids, and nurses and waiters, and coachmen and
gardeners, in Merrigoland, were invited to go and wait upon them: so
there was nobody left at home in any of the houses but the children;
not even the babies; for their mothers had carried them in their
arms to the governor's house.

"What fun!" shouted the children. "We can do every thing we have a
mind to now."

"We'll eat all the cake and pies and preserves and candies in the
country," said Patty Pettitoes.