nds and looking upward, "Bless the Lord, O my soul," she
exclaimed; "'and all that is within me, bless his holy name!'"

CHAPTER XIII.

"Lu! Lu! five o'clock, time to get up!" called a harsh voice in loud,
shrill tones.

"Who, who was calling?" asked Eva starting out of sleep.

"Only Polly," laughed Lulu.

"Get up, get up!" screamed the bird. "Time for breakfast. Polly wants
her coffee. Polly wants a cracker."

"What a smart parrot! how plainly she talks," said Eva.

"Yes; but so loud. I'm afraid she will wake everybody in the house."

"How has she learned your name so soon?" asked Eva.

"I don't think she has," said Lulu. "Papa says there was a girl named
Louisa in the place where Polly used to live, that everybody called Lu,
and the parrot learned to call her so too."

"Happy New Year!" screamed Polly.

"Oh just hear her!" cried Lulu in delight. "Papa must have been teaching
her that, or having somebody else do it, while we were away. I think
she's going to make a great deal of fun for us all. Happy New Year to
you, Eva dear," giving her friend a hug, as they lay side by side in
the bed.

"The same to you, dear Lu," returned Eva. "How nice it is to be here
with you lying on this easy couch with this down cover and these soft
blankets over us. I never lay on a more delightful bed. Everything about
it is beautiful and luxurious too."

"Papa was very particular to get the very best of springs and mattresses
for all our beds," replied Lulu. "Oh but he is a dear, good father,
always careful for the comfort and happiness of all his children!"

"And of his wife?"

"Oh yes indeed! I'm quite sure no man could take better care of his
wife, or be more loving and kind to her, than papa is to Mamma Vi. And
I'm pretty sure he was just the same to my mother; he says he loved her
very dearly and loves his children--I mean Max and Gracie and
me--because they were hers as well as because they are his very own."

"Lu! Lu! get up! Time for breakfast!" screamed Polly again.

"I suppose it is morning, or she wouldn't be making such a fuss," said
Lulu.

"Yes," said Eva, "I see a little light coming in at the window."

"I'll light the gas in the sitting-room, and give her a cracker to stop
her screaming," said Lulu, getting out of bed and feeling about for her
warm slippers and dressing gown. "Then I'll run and catch papa and
Gracie."

"Lulu," said the captain's voice from Gracie's room.

"I'm here, papa. O