“Wouldn't it be too lovely for words,” he said on one occasion when he was taking his sisters for a voyage in his tub-ship, “if we could go in a real big boat, and sail away across the sea?”
And that is exactly what they did do! For one summer day, Father and Mother and the children, Elsie, Doris and Jack, all went on board a big boat and steamed across the channel to France for a long holiday.
Oh! what a glorious time they had! What fun the bathing was, undressing in the little rocky caves and running down the firm sand, and then tumbling into the water with shouts of joy. Then afterwards they paddled and dug in the sands, and searched for shells and seaweed, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves the whole day long.
There was so much to interest them, too, in the little French village, and they were delighted with the quaint dresses of the peasants.
One girl came to bring them fruit and vegetables, and the children thought how pretty she looked in her snowy cap, coloured skirt and wooden shoes, as she lifted her little sister to look for father's boat.
Jack, of course, was just in his glory, and never tired of watching the fishing boats sailing out to sea.
Sometimes he went on the water himself, and soon learned to row, tho' the first time he tried, his oar swung round and knocked him head over heels into the bottom of the boat.