"The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all but him had
fled"
[She hesitates. ] Then I think he went JULIA. Of course, he fled
after the rest.
AMANDA. Dear, no! That's the point. He didn't.
"The flames rolled on, he would not go Without his father's
word."
ELIZABETH ELIZA. O yes. Now I can say it.
"The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all but him had
fled; The flames rolled on, he would not go Without his
father's word."
But it used to rhyme. I don't know what has happened to it.
MRS. PETERKIN. Elizabeth Eliza is very particular about the
rhymes.
ELIZABETH ELIZA. It must be "without his father's head," or,
perhaps, "without his father said" he should.
JULIA. I think you must have omitted something.
AMANDA. She has left out ever so much!
MOTHER. Perhaps it's as well to omit some, for the ice-cream
has come, and you must all come down.
AMANDA. And here are the rest of the girls; and let us all unite
in a song!
[Exeunt omnes, singing. ]
THE PETERKINS CELEBRATE THE FOURTH OF JULY. THE
day began early.
A compact had been made with the little boys the evening before.
They were to be allowed to usher in the glorious day by the
blowing of horns exactly at sunrise. But they were to blow them
for precisely five minutes only, and no sound of the horns should
be heard afterward till the family were downstairs.
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