Dolly slipped off Mr. Eberstein's knee and retook her old place by the fire; where she sat turning from one passage to another of those she had been reading. Mr. Eberstein watched her, how the ribbon markers of the Bible were carefully laid in two of the places, and a couple of neat slips of paper prepared for the others.
"What have you been doing to-day, Dolly?" he asked at length.
"We went to see the water works."
"Oh, you did! And what did you think of the water works?"
"We went up to the top and walked about. Do the people in Philadelphia want so much water as all that?"
"They want a great deal more. The Fairmount works give only enough for part of the city."
"That is taking a great deal of trouble to get water."
"It would be worse trouble to do without it."
"But why don't people all live in the country, as we do at home? then they would have water for nothing."
"Humph! That would answer, Dolly, if people were contented with water; they all want wine. I mean, my child, that most people are not satisfied with simple doings; and for anything more they must have money; and they can make money faster in cities. Therefore they build cities."