And they all tried, but they couldn't. "Very well, then." said Mr.
Peterkin, "let them go and ask the lady from Philadelphia."
"All of us?" cried one of the little boys, in the excitement of the
moment.
"Yes," said Mrs. Peterkin, "only put on your india-rubber boots."
And they hurried out of the house.
The lady from Philadelphia was just going in to her dinner; but she
kindly stopped in the entry to hear what the trouble was.
Agamemnon and Elizabeth Eliza told her all the difficulty, and the
lady from Philadelphia said, "But why don't you give the slices of
fat to those who like the fat, and the slices of lean to those who
like the lean?"
They looked at one another. Agamemnon looked at Elizabeth
Eliza, and Solomon John looked at the little boys. "Why didn't we
think of that?" said they, and ran home to tell their mother.
WHY THE PETERKINS HAD A LATE DINNER. THE trouble
was in the dumb-waiter. All had seated themselves at the
dinner-table, and Amanda had gone to take out the dinner she had
sent up from the kitchen on the dumb-waiter. But something was
the matter; she could not pull it up. There was the dinner, but she
could not reach it. All the family, in turn, went and tried; all
pulled together, in vain;the dinner could not be stirred.
"No dinner!" exclaimed Agamemnon.
"I am quite hungry," said Solomon John.
At last Mr. Peterkin said, "I am not proud.
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