sail for months over the breezy Atlantic and the sunny Mediterranean;

they were to scamper about the decks by day, filling the ship with shouts

and laughter--or read novels and poetry in the shade of the smokestacks,

or watch for the jelly-fish and the nautilus over the side, and the

shark, the whale, and other strange monsters of the deep; and at night

they were to dance in the open air, on the upper deck, in the midst of a

ballroom that stretched from horizon to horizon, and was domed by the

bending heavens and lighted by no meaner lamps than the stars and the

magnificent moon--dance, and promenade, and smoke, and sing, and make

love, and search the skies for constellations that never associate with

the "Big Dipper" they were so tired of; and they were to see the ships of

twenty navies--the customs and costumes of twenty curious peoples--the

great cities of half a world--they were to hob-nob with nobility and hold

friendly converse with kings and princes, grand moguls, and the anointed

lords of mighty empires! It was a brave conception; it was the offspring

of a most ingenious brain. It was well advertised, but it hardly needed

it: the bold originality, the extraordinary character, the seductive

nature, and the vastness of the enterprise provoked comment everywhere

and advertised it in every household in the land. Who could read the

program of the excursion without longing to make one of the party? I will

insert it here. It is almost as good as a map. As a text for this book,

nothing could be better:

EXCURSION TO THE HOLY LAND, EGYPT,

THE CRIMEA, GREECE, AND INTERMEDIATE POINTS OF INTEREST.

BROOKLYN, February 1st, 1867

The Innocents Abroad