Among the treasures found were some old bonnets, of large size,
with waving plumes. Elizabeth Eliza decided upon the largest of
these.
She was tempted to appear as Mrs. Columbus, as Solomon John
was to take the character of Christopher Columbus; but he was
planning to enter upon the stage in a boat, and Elizabeth Eliza was
a little afraid of sea-sickness, as he had arranged to be a great
while finding the shore.
Solomon John had been led to take this character by discovering a
coal-hod that would answer for a helmet; then, as Christopher
Columbus was born in Genoa, he could use the phrases in Italian
he had lately learned of his teacher.
As the day approached the family had their costumes prepared.
Mr. Peterkin decided to be Peter the Great. It seemed to him a
happy thought, for the few words of Russian he had learned would
come in play, and he was quite sure that his own family name
made him kin to that of the great Czar. He studied up the life in
the Encyclop?dia, and decided to take the costume of a
ship-builder. He visited the navy-yard and some of the docks; but
none of them gave him the true idea of dress for ship-building in
Holland or St. Petersburg.
But he found a picture of Peter the Great, representing him in a
broad-brimmed hat. So he assumed one that he found at a
costumer's, and with Elizabeth Eliza's black waterproof was
satisfied with his own appearance.
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