“Yes, with all the other things.”
“Well, they oughter go to Berry’s Corner, an’ see Deacon Jones’ meadow; a hundred acres, an’ not a rock on it; jest as smooth as a floor. He wouldn’t have these bushes on his place no more’n he’d fly.”
It was not until they had arrived at the lake, and he saw the marble bridge and the playgrounds, that Josiah condescended to be more than mildly interested in the surroundings.
Then he was willing to admit that this might be more beautiful than “Deacon Jones’ meadow,” and Bob began to have great hopes of surprising him before the visit had come to an end.
“Jest wait till we get down where the animals are! That’s what’ll knock your eye out!”
As a matter of course the party indulged in a boat-ride, and after making a complete circuit of the lake three times, were ready to “take in” the zoölogical collection.
Josiah was not willing to move quite as rapidly as his friends desired.
He was deeply interested in the throngs of people around him in holiday attire, and found quite as much to amuse in the ever-changing scene near the boat-landing as he had in front of the shop windows, while Bob and Tom thought only of reaching the monkey-house that they might enjoy the antics of those animals.
“Come on! It’s foolish wastin’ so much time here when there’s lots more to be seen,” Bob said impatiently. “I thought we’d better strike this place first, an’ then we could stay as long as we wanted with the animals.”
“I’m comin’,” Josiah replied, and during two or three moments he remained close behind his friends; but then, as the oddest kind of a vehicle, which he fancied was a stage-coach, drove past with four horses, a remarkably well-dressed driver, and a man on top who played on a long horn, he forgot the necessity of keeping very near his guides.