And the horse was, but he was on a smooth asphalt street, and the wagon went so easily that the children didn’t notice how very fast they were going.
“I wonder if he wouldn’t stop if I asked him please to?” spoke Mary, as she leaned over the seat.
“You might try,” suggested Johnny.
So Mary did.
“Oh, please, nice horsie, won’t you kindly stop running away with us?” she asked, in her gentle voice. “We don’t want to get so far away from home, and it will soon be dark. Please stop.”
But the horse only wiggled his ears backwards and forwards, switched his tail to and fro, and kept on going.
“It’s no use!” exclaimed Tommy. “He won’t stop, and I’m going to eat.”
“So am I!” added Johnny.
“Then I suppose I may as well, also,” said Mary. “But we must remember all that we take, so papa can pay the grocery man, or we can pay him, if he gives us any pennies.”
So the children each took an orange, out of a basket that had a great many in it, and they took some nuts, and a little candy, and some grapes, and then Mary opened a big package and she cried out: