We would have set off if need be at midnight, and of course grandmother would have given us breakfast as soon as we reached her house.
We helped mother to prepare breakfast—blew up the fire like young blacksmiths, only that breakfast might be ready the sooner; burnt our tongues with hot coffee only that that we might the sooner have breakfasted; and in general conducted ourselves solely with a view to be off and away as soon as possible.
At last we are off.
Our father was a pedagogue. He never allowed our minds to flag, and kept relating things to us that we were just capable of understanding. He did not evade our questions in his answers, as we so frequently see done; and if we had gone on asking questions till doomsday, he would have gone on answering till doomsday.
And thus he made up a story for us—how that grandmother was already on the look out for us—how that she was coming to meet us as we never saw her do before, with a plate of cakes in one hand and a plate of red cherries in the other—red cherries, which are so scarce. Yet further did we picture grandmother to ourselves. She must have something also in her pockets—a doll, sugar plums, &c. And finally, how could it be grandmother unless she had brought something also in her lap? We certainly did not understand how she could carry it all; but if it was our grandmother she must be able to contrive everything.
And so also in every woman whom we observed in the distance, we saw grandmother approaching even with the plates, even with her pockets full of goodies. Although
