"Isn't she lovely?"
"See, she is running down the steps with a tall jar on her head. Isn't she lovely? I wonder if she will let us take her picture."
"I will ask her," said May. "Do you suppose that woman is her mother? She is knitting with long, crooked needles. Her cap looks like a white handkerchief laid over her black hair. Perhaps they think father and mother are artists who want to paint them in a picture."
"I will tell them that my little daughters are the artists," said the Sunbonnet Babies' father. "It does not take you so long to make a picture as it does most artists, so I think they will be glad to pose for you."
And they were. When the camera had been snapped, Molly and May each gave the little girl a soldo and said they hoped a real artist would paint a beautiful picture of her soon.
"I should much rather see the picture you have just taken in your queer, black box," said the little Italian girl.
"Would you really like to have us send it to you when it is finished?" asked Molly.
"Oh, yes, thank you! I would take it home to il padre and show him what happens when I come to the big city."
"Where do you live?? asked the Sunbonnet Babies' father.
"We live in the country, two miles beyond the city walls. We go out through St. Paul's Gate. My father has a little farm out there."