lor carpets, which
could be put 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 downstairs 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 should 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 another, without even
looking at Elizabeth Eliza's programme; she doubted if they could have
read it if they had looked at it.

[Illustration]

Mr. Peterkin had ordered the carters to come; but he had no idea they
woul