24 THE COUSINS.

thought was sand was on the trees and houses as
well as on the ground, and then he told her it
was snow, and related some pleasant stories of
his snow-balling, and making snow men and
snow houses, when he was a little boy. There is
a telegraph on Staten Island, and when they
passed it, her uncle showed Mary how its great
arms were moving about, and explained to her
that the signs which were thus made were care-
fully observed in New York, and conveyed the
intelligence there that a ship was coming up, and
even what ship it was.

You will readily believe that, with observing
all these things, and watching: the vessels going
and coming, which seemed to her very numerous,
though they were fewer than there would have
been in a summer’s day, Mary did not find her
sail from Sandy Hook to the city tedious. But
from the time that the steeples of New York
became visible, Mary could see nothing but them,
and think of nothing but her new home, and
the unknown aunt and cousins who were to
welcome her to it. I am sure that all my readers
who may have been obliged to leave their own