CHAPTER V
Alice was beginning to feel rather tired, when they turned another corner and saw the old woman who lived in a shoe. The landlord didn't like to have babies in the house, and the cost of living was dreadfully high, and so she didn't know what else to do. The Red Knight kissed every one of the children—there were just fifty-seven of them—and told them that under certain circumstances they might all be President some day.
Alice had been long away from home, and the sight of the little ones almost brought tears to her eyes.
"The darlings!" she said. "I should just have to bathe them all and put them to bed. I wonder how you can keep count of them, ma'am."
"It's very simple," said the woman. "I make them punch a clock, in the morning just before breakfast, and again before they go to bed. But it's the breakfast that worries me," she went on, turning to the Red Knight. "With fifty-seven mouths to feed, and each one demanding a bowl of cereal and an egg, and prices what they are."
"But on the other hand," said the Red Knight, "see what you have done for your country and your race."
"I know," said the old woman. "I heard people say that if the tariff were reduced, then groceries might come cheaper somehow; I am not clever at such things, but you know what I mean."
The Red Knight smiled jovially.
"I quite understand, Madam," he said. "What you mean is that the Presidential primary ought to be established in every State."