very gratified," said Master Lewis, "at the amount of historic
study our proposed tour has already stimulated. One must read and
study _to see_. Dr. Johnson used the comparison that 'some people
would see more in a single ride in a Hempstead stage-coach than others
would in a tour round the world.' Thoreau said,--

'If with fancy unfurled
You leave your abode,
You may go round the world
By the old Marlboro' road.'

"You might have added many charming stories to those already told. In
Calais, the last town of the Gallic dominions of the Plantagenets, we
shall visit the scene of the siege of Edward III. and of the immortal
Five who offered their lives as a ransom for their city, and whom good
Queen Philippa spared. At Falaise, we may see the ruin of the castle
from whose window Duke Robert, the father of the Conqueror, first saw
Arletta, the tanner's daughter, and was enchanted with her beauty. At
Rouen, we shall stand in the square where the Maid of Orleans was
burned, and, in all places, in contrast with the dark romances of the
past, will appear sunny hills, bowery valleys, and picturesque
streams.

"I think it was Victor Hugo who said that 'Europe was the finest
nation on the earth, France the finest country, and Normandy the
finest part of France.' I do not ask you to accept his opinion, but
Normandy is very beautiful."

Meetings of the Club were held every two weeks.

The boys tried to learn the secret which Tommy had been instructed to
select. But he claimed that he had been instructed also to keep it.

"It would not be creditable to the Club to tell it now," he said.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE ATLANTIC.

The Steerage.--Pilot Boats.--Tommy meets Rough Weather.--His Letter
and Postscript.--Queer Passengers.--Games and Story-telling.--Story
of Joan of Arc.--Signalling at Sea.--Land!

An ocean steamer! Though a speck upon the waters, what a world it
seems! What symmetry, what strength, what a triumph of human skill!
What a cheerful sense of security one feels as one looks upon the oak
and the iron, and hears the wind whistle through the motionless forest
of cordage! There society in all its grades is seen, and human nature
in all its phases.

The cool upper deck of the steamer was more inviting to our tourists
than the hot streets and hotels of New York, and early in the
afternoon they met on the North River Pier, and went on board of their
ocean home. First, they examined