“You’re welcome”; and he gave Tommy’s hand a squeeze that made him wince. “Wait a minute,” he added suddenly, turning to Jim. “An hour and a half is a long time for the boy to wait. Can’t he see some of the sights?”
“We might put him on the street-car,” said Jim, “and let him ride out to Georgetown and back. That’ll give him enough to think about for a week.”
“All right.” And the conductor slipped a dime into the other’s hand. “Here, you pay the car conductor and tell him to look out after the boy. I’ve sort o’ taken a liking to him,” he added shamefacedly, and hurried away toward the home where his wife and another little chap, not half so large as Tommy, were waiting to welcome him.
Jim went back to Tommy.
“Come on,” he said. “You’re going to take a street-car ride along the most famous street in the country. Here, give me the box. I’ll take care of it till you get back.”
Tommy handed over the box, and followed him to the entrance, where queer open cars, such as he had never seen before, were dashing up and departing every minute. Jim said a few words to the conductor of one of these, and gave him the dime.
“Jump up there on the front seat,” he said to Tommy, “and don’t get off the car till you get back here.”
Tommy scrambled up beside the motorman, who had been watching the proceeding with kindly interest, and in a moment the car turned out into Pennsylvania Avenue.
To those who visit Washington straight from the stately thoroughfares of Boston, New York, or Philadelphia, this famous street may at first prove something of a disappointment, although its beauty improves on closer acquaintance; but to this boy, coming straight from the West Virginia mountains, it seemed a very vision of loveliness, and he gazed at it with dazzled eyes. The broad avenue, thronged with handsome equipages and hurrying people, stretched straight before him, bathed in the brilliant afternoon sunshine.
“That’s the Post-office,” remarked the motorman, as they whirled past a great structure of gray granite. “This big building right ahead here is the United States Treasury. That’s where they keep all the money.”