"Oh, don't darling!" said Katy. "Think how pleasant it will be to
send letters, and to get them from us. I shall write to you every
Saturday. Run for the big atlas,--there's a dear, and let us see
where we are going."

Elsie brought the atlas; and the three heads bent eagerly over it,
as Clover traced the route of the journey with her forefinger. How
exciting it looked! There was the railroad, twisting and curving over
half-a-dozen States. The black dots which followed it were towns and
villages, all of which they should see. By and by the road made a
bend, and swept northward by the side of the Connecticut River and
toward the hills. They had heard how beautiful the Connecticut
valley is.

"Only think! we shall be close to it," remarked Clover; "and we shall
see the hills. I suppose they are very high, a great deal higher than
the hill at Bolton."

"I hope so," laughed Dr. Carr, who came into the room just then. The
hill at Bolton was one of his favorite jokes. When mamma first came
to Burnet, she had paid a visit to some friends at Bolton, and one
day, when they were all out walking, they asked her if she felt strong
enough to go to the top of the hill. Mamma was used to hills, so she
said yes, and walked on, very glad to find that there was a hill in
that flat country, but wondering a little why they did not see it. At
last she asked where it was, and, behold, they had just reached the
top! The slope had been so gradual that she had never found out that
they were going uphill at all. Dr. Carr had told this story to the
children, but had never been able to make them see the joke very