"Oh, yes! he is doing finely."
Before long, they reached the harbor, which was the broad mouth of a beautiful river. There was a white, sandy beach, with long rows of bathing-houses at one point, and a great shore-dinner room with pavilion. Farther down was a wharf, about which were sailboats and yachts, and a beautiful little steamer, that ran between the harbor and the town. A great hotel stood a little back from the shore, near which stood a number of pretty cottages for lodging some of the guests of the house. At intervals along the beach were handsome great cottages, as large as Mr. Frothingham's. There was also a lighthouse on the beach. At a little distance back of the lighthouse was a pretty grove with seats, swings, and revolving hobby-horses. The children spent the rest of the morning in the grove, and along the shore. Then came the novel event of the day,—dinner in the great dining-room at the hotel, with colored waiters, and all the courses, from soup to nuts. The tables were filled with handsomely dressed, merry persons. The show and clatter, discussion of the bill of fare, and the courses with their long pauses between, made it easy to spend so much time at the table that a good part of the afternoon was gone before they left the dining-room; and so the children concluded they would not go into town that day.
As they were passing out through the hall, Johnny noticed that a good many men were sitting with newspapers in their hands. He stopped as they passed the desk, and asked of the clerk,—
"Does any boy sell papers here?"
"No," replied the clerk.
"Where do all these gentlemen get their papers?"
"Some of them come by mail, and some get them when they go into town."
As they were going down the steps toward the wharf, to see Mr. Le Bras and Pierre off for town,—since they had decided to go in the steamer, and leave the carriage for Oliver to take the children for a drive along the beach,—Johnny said,—
"There are no papers brought here to the hotel: I have a mind to go over to town mornings, and get some papers and bring them up; if I could sell a good many, I could make considerable money, and have a good time, by coming to the town and Harbor every day."
"But you might not sell enough to make it pay," replied his father.