"THEIR GIRL."
A STORY IN THREE CHAPTERS.
BY JAMES OTIS,
Author of "Toby Tyler," "Tim and Tip," "Mr. Stubbs's Brother," etc.
III.
The morning on which the famous excursion was to be made dawned as bright and clear as the most exacting boy could have wished, and Johnny and Jimmy were in the best possible spirits.
The boat on which they were to start was to leave the pier at ten o'clock, and as early as six they had concluded the most elaborate of toilets. They were dressed so much that the effort to move about in such a manner as not to destroy their general elegance really cost them no little pain.
Johnny had been up some time before it was light, making such a racket as he moved about the house, bent on getting this thing or that which would add to his general appearance, that Mother Brown had jumped out of bed twice in the greatest alarm, believing burglars were in the house. He had not only made his own toilet, but he had aided Jimmy in his, until both were in such a state of gorgeousness that they almost feared to walk through the streets because of the excitement they might cause.
The night previous Johnny had invested five cents in butter, greatly to the mystification of Jimmy, and when the work of dressing began, he brought it forward triumphantly, bestowing such liberal quantities upon his own head and Jimmy's that each particular hair lay down so flat that the most furious gust of wind could not have disturbed it. It was fully half an hour before Johnny, with the aid of an old shoe-brush, could arrange this portion of the toilet to please him; but it was accomplished at last, and the remainder of the work begun.
During the first week of the summer Jimmy had taken the place, for one day, of a friend who sold papers on the Harlem Railroad, and in order that he might improve his personal appearance somewhat had purchased a paper collar. Of course he had worn it until it was so thoroughly soiled that it would have been difficult to have said what its original color was.