At last he thought he would get out. So the next time the man put the brakes on and the train yelled “Yi-i-i-i—sh-sh-sh-sh!” Boris walked through the open doors on to the platform, then through the little gate, up some long steps and found himself on the street again. But right near him what do you think he saw? A park all full of trees and grass! This made Boris happy for he hadn’t seen so many trees and so much grass since he had left the wide country in his old home in Russia. A little breeze was blowing too! He clapped his hands and ran around and laughed and laughed and laughed and sang:
“I like the grass,
I like the trees,
I like the sky,
I like the breeze!
I touch the grass,
I touch the trees,
Let me play in the Park,
Oh, please! oh, please!”
So he ran all round and played in the Park.
Suddenly he thought it was time to go home. He looked for the hole in the sidewalk but he couldn’t find it. And he didn’t know how to ask for the subway for he didn’t know its name and he couldn’t talk English. “I’ll have to walk!” he thought. He knew he must walk south for he had noticed which way the sun was when he went into the hole in the sidewalk. And now he noticed again where it was and so he could tell which way was south.
So Boris went out on the street. He walked to the corner and waited to go across.
Kachunk, kachunk, kachunk went by an auto;
Clopperty, clopperty, clopperty went by a horse,
Thunk-a-ta, thunk-a-ta, bang, bang went by a truck.
He waited another minute.
Kachunk, kachunk, kachunk went by an auto;
Clopperty, clopperty, clopperty went by a horse;
Thunk-a-ta, thunk-a-ta, bang, bang went by a truck.
He stood there a long time watching the stream of autos and horses and trucks go by. And he thought; “I’ll never get home if I have to go as slowly as this.
“Dear me! dear me!
What shall I do?
The’re so many things
I’ll never get through!”