“What do you think we had for breakfast, Mother?” wrote June a little later. “Strawberries and cream—thick cream! Think of it, on the first of July! I’m going to begin in March in Cincinnati and go north to follow up the berries till the season ends in Canada. I ordered ‘oatmeal porridge’ because it sounded so English, ‘bean porridge hot’, you know,—and it was the best breakfast food I ever ate. They had ‘English breakfast tea’ on the menu, too, but I couldn’t order that because I wanted cocoa, m’m, so good! Some of the cocoa you get traveling is horrid. But I’ll never forget those big, ripe, juicy berries that the waiter brought me. I felt selfish because mine happened to be the biggest. But you couldn’t change, of course, anyway, in public. Our waiter looked just like the English valet I saw the other day in a movie, so dignified and serious.
“I’ve gotten the traveler’s guide and things from the office and have learned that Toronto was founded as a French trading post with the Indians in 1749, and that it covers forty square miles. The name is from an Indian word and means ‘place of meeting’. The land was ‘sold to the Crown in 1787 by the Missisauga Indians for $85.’ Think of it. It is the capital of the Province of Ontario and has a population of five hundred thousand. I don’t suppose I shall remember this, but I promised Father that I’d try to learn some little thing about each place. I may add some more to this after we have taken our ride in the sight-seeing ’bus. Miss West has the tickets already; you can get them right in the hotel. We are to start about noon, for we had our breakfast so late that we shall not want any lunch till at least two o’clock. We are all packed up now, and leave on the boat about four o’clock, I think. We haven’t seen Betty yet, or even called her up. When we started to, we found that nobody, not even Cathalina, knew her aunt’s name or telephone number, but Betty knows when we leave and I’m sure she will be here or at the boat on time.”
“Come, girls,” said Miss West, “all ready for the trip and packed up to start after lunch? We’ll go down to the lobby and see if the taxi has arrived.”
And such an immense taxi it was. “I feel like a monkey,” declared Jean, “climbing with both hands and feet up this tippy height!” The party occupied only two of the long seats, and those in front had been reserved for them. The man of the megaphone was hatless and active, collecting the tickets as well as imparting information. “There are two persons who have not surrendered their tickets,” he announced, counting tickets and passengers.
Miss West looked up inquiringly. “I have all your tickets together,” he assured her. As the same announcement was made several times later, the girls concluded that it was a polite way of telling that two fares had not been paid.
At once the girls noticed that the city was decorated with flags and that the stores were closed. “This is Dominion Day,” announced the megaphone, “same as your Fourth of July.” Everything was “Limited”, “Imperial”, “Royal”, “Dominion”, or “Queen’s”, according to June. T. Eaton’s seemed to be as important in Toronto as Marshall Field’s in Chicago, and an unusual feature in which the girls were interested was the display of pretty gowns or other articles for sale in the front or bay windows of what had once been private residences, now absorbed into the business part of the city.
“How do you feel, June,” asked Cathalina, “under the Union Jack?”
“All right. You’ve been in so many foreign countries that I suppose it does not seem strange to you.”
“I never happened to be in Canada, and it is just as interesting as it can be!”
Different monuments and churches, Queen’s Park, the University of Toronto and the Parliament building engaged their attention, and as they rode through Rosedale, a pretty residential section, the girls wondered if Betty’s aunt lived there. At the hotel again, it was great fun to trail after the porter who showed them the royal suite; but time was pressing, and while Miss West settled the bills the girls started for the dock, within easy walking distance. Still no Betty!