down in the new house the first thing. Then the parlor
furniture could be moved in, and there would be two comfortable rooms,
in which Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin could sit, while the rest of the move
went on. Then the old parlor carpets could be taken up for the new
dining-room and the down-stairs bedroom, and the family could meanwhile
dine at the old house. Mr. Peterkin did not object to this, though the
distance was considerable, as he felt exercise would be good for them
all. Elizabeth Eliza's programme then arranged that the dining-room
furniture could be moved the third day, by which time one of the old
parlor carpets would be down in the new dining-room, and they could
still sleep in the old house. Thus there would always be a quiet,
comfortable place in one house or the other. Each night when Mr.
Peterkin came home, he would find some place for quiet thought and
rest, and each day there should be moved only the furniture needed for
a certain room. Great confusion would be avoided and nothing misplaced.
Elizabeth Eliza wrote these last words at the head of her
programme--"Misplace nothing." And Agamemnon made a copy of the
programme for each member of the family.

The first thing to be done was to buy the parlor carpets. Elizabeth
Eliza had already looked at some in Boston, and the next morning she
went by an early train, with her father, Agamemnon, and Solomon John,
to decide upon them.

They got home about eleven o'clock, and when they reached the house
were dismayed to find two furniture wagons, in front of the gate,
already partly filled! Mrs. Peterkin was walking in and out of the open
door, a large book in one hand, and a duster in the other, and she came
to meet them in an agony of anxiety. What should they do? The furniture
carts had appeared soon after the rest had left for Boston, and the men
had insisted upon beginning to move the things. In vain had she shown
Elizabeth Eliza's programme, in vain had she insisted they must take
only the parlor furniture. They had declared they must put the heavy
pieces in the bottom of the cart, and the lighter furniture on top. So
she had seen them go into every room in the house, and select one piece
of furniture after the other, without even looking at Elizabeth Eliza's
programme; she doubted if they could have read it, if they had looked
at it.

Mr. Peterkin had ordered the carters to come, but he had no idea they
would come so early, and supposed it would take them