phine thanked her; but said she could entertain herself very well
without books, and that she believed she would take a walk in the
garden. She accordingly put on her bonnet, and strolled up and down the
walks, gazing listlessly at the flowers. She attempted to gather some
strawberries, but found it too fatiguing to stoop down to the beds; and
satisfied herself with plucking currants and gooseberries from the
bushes. She then sat in the arbour for awhile, and looked all the time
straight down the middle walk. When she was tired of the arbour, she
established herself on a circular bench which ran round a large walnut
tree; and then she counted all the windows at the back part of the
house. When this was accomplished, she counted them all over again. And
then, finding the sun had become very powerful, she went into the
front-parlour, the shutters of which were bowed to exclude the heat, and
throwing herself at full length on the sofa, she in a few minutes fell
into a profound sleep, from which she did not awaken till her cousins
entered the room in search of her, after their lessons were over. They
took her up stairs into the apartment they called their play-room, and
showed her a variety of things which would have been very amusing to a
girl that knew how to be amused. There was a lacquered Chinese cabinet,
containing a great number of curiosities brought by their uncle from
Canton: and a large box with shelves, on which were various specimens of
Indian ingenuity, presented to the children by a gentleman who had
travelled all over the country beyond the Mississippi. Their library
consisted of a beautiful and entertaining selection of juvenile books;
and they had a port-folio filled with fine prints of such subjects as
are particularly interesting to young people. They showed her a
representation of the grand procession at the coronation of the
sovereign of England, printed on a long narrow roll of paper pasted on
silk; which paper was unwound like a ribbon-yard from a Tunbridge-ware
box, and it could be screwed up again after being sufficiently seen. It
was many yards in length, and the figures (which were almost
innumerable) were elegantly designed, and beautifully coloured. They had
also a little theatre, with a great number of scenes; and a variety of
very small dolls, dressed in appropriate habits to personate the actors.
Beside all these things, they had a closet full of amusing toys; and in
short the play-room was am