"That's a hansom cab," explained Mrs. Horton. "They were very popular and stylish before the automobile came."
Privately Sunny Boy thought it wasn't very handsome, and the poor old horse was no longer stylish if he had ever been, but there was little time to think about hansom cabs, for just then Mother remarked:
"Here's the big store where they have such a wonderful toy department."
It was a big store, much larger than any Sunny Boy had ever seen in Centronia, and it seemed filled with people to him.
"Oh, Mother!" he stopped so short that several people nearly fell over him, "what's that?"
"That" was a long shining moving thing on which people were being wafted gently upward. It reminded Sunny Boy of the fairy tale he had seen in the motion picture where the Wishing Girl who wanted to fly was suddenly granted her wish.
"Where do they go?" Sunny Boy asked so loudly that a floor-man heard and answered him.
"That's an escalator," he announced, much as one might say: "That's a strawberry."
"It's a moving stairway, precious," added his mother. "I suppose you want to ride on it. Well, first I must get Daddy some handkerchiefs, for we never packed him a one. And we'll find out on which floor the toys are, too."
Sunny Boy waited patiently while the handkerchiefs were bought, and then while Mother chose a new veil, a pretty white one with black dots.