we all began to cry--even Tom, who thinks himself such a man. It
was _so_ lonely without father.

4. Tom was the first to dry his eyes. He turned to me and said, "Stop
that crying. You are the eldest, and you ought to know better."

5. He made mother take his arm, just as father used to do. Then he began
to whistle, to show that he did not care a bit. All the way home he
tried to make jokes.

6. As soon as we had taken off our coats and hats, Tom called us into
the sitting-room. "Look here," he said: "we're going to have no glum
faces in this house. We must be bright and cheerful, or mother will
fret. You know father wouldn't like that."

[Illustration: {Children in the sitting-room}]

7. We said that we would do our best. So off we went to help mother to
make the beds and to dust the rooms. While we were doing this we quite
forgot to be sad.

8. After tea we went into father's room and looked at the globe. "I'm
going to follow father right round the world," said Tom. "Please show me
which way he is going." Mother did so.

9. "By this time next week," she said, "we shall have the first of many
long letters from father. I am sure we shall enjoy reading them. He will
tell us about the far-off lands which he is going to see."

10. "That will be grand," I said. "I hope he will tell us _lots_
about the children. I want to know what they look like, what they wear,
and what games they play."

11. Tom said he would rather not hear about children. He wanted to hear
about savages and tigers and shipwrecks, and things like that.

[Illustration: {Postman delivering a letter}]

12. A week later the postman brought us father's first letter. How eager
we were to hear it! Mother had to read it for us two or three times.

13. Every week for many weeks the postman brought us letters from
father. When he handed us a letter he used to say, "I'm glad to see that
your daddy is all right so far."

14. This book is made up of father's letters from abroad. I hope you
will enjoy them as much as we did.

* * * * *

2. A LETTER FROM FRANCE.

1. MY DEAR CHILDREN,--I am writing this letter in a large seaport of the
south of France. To-morrow I shall go on board the big ship which is to
take me to Egypt.

2. Let me tell you about my travels so far. The train in which I left
our town took me to London. Next day another train took me to a small
town on the seashore.

3. About twenty miles of sea l