"Well," said Mr. Holiday, "that depends upon how far we go. It is pleasant enough to go out a short distance on the water in a sail boat, but for a long excursion the steamer is generally considered much pleasanter. In a sail boat you are down very low, near the surface of the water, and so you have no commanding views. Then you have no shelter either from the sun, if it is clear, or from the rain, if it is cloudy. You are closely confined, too, or at least you can move about only a very little; whereas in the steamer there is plenty of space, and there are a great many groups of people, and little incidents are constantly occurring to amuse you."
"Besides," said Mrs. Holiday, "if you go in the steamer, I can go with you."
"Why, mother, could not you go in a sail boat too?"
"No," said Mrs. Holiday; "I am afraid of sail boats."
"O mother!" said Rollo; "there is not any danger at all."
"Yes, Rollo," said his father, "there is some danger, for sail boats do sometimes upset."
"And steamboats sometimes blow up," said Rollo.
"True," said his father; "but that only shows that there is danger in steamboats too—not that there is no danger in sail boats."
"Well, what I mean," said Rollo, "is, that there is very little danger, and that mother has no occasion to be afraid."