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  Transcriber's Note:

  Bolded are represented like =this=.
  Italics are represented like _this_.
  Spaced words are represented like +this+.


    [Illustration:

      There's a far-away land, where the sun ever shines
        That is set in a sea of blue,
    Where song-birds are singing and flowers are springing
        The summer and winter through.

    We're off for that land, fair Italy's land,
      To share in its song and its play.
    The Sunbonnet Babies shall be our guide--
      Our own little Molly and May.]




    THE SUNBONNET BABIES
    IN ITALY




    [Illustration:

    _The_
    SUNBONNET BABIES
    IN ITALY

    _By EULALIE OSGOOD GROVER_

    _Author of "The Sunbonnet Babies' Primer," "The Sunbonnet
    Babies in Holland," "The Overall Boys,"
    "The Overall Boys in Switzerland"_

    ILLUSTRATED BY

    BERTHA CORBETT MELCHER
    AND
    JAMES McCRACKEN

    RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
    _Chicago_   _New York_   _London_]




    _Copyright, 1922, by_
    EULALIE OSGOOD GROVER
    All rights reserved in all countries

[Illustration]

[Illustration]




    _To
    the many little friends of the
    +SUNBONNET BABIES+
    who have shared
    in their happy journeyings_




[Illustration: THE CONTENTS]


                                             PAGE
    THE ARRIVAL AT NAPLES                       9
    THE FIRST DRIVE                            18
    SEEING STRANGE SIGHTS                      26
    A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM                      40
    AN AFTERNOON IN THE PARK                   48
    THE BURIED CITY                            60
    A LONG DRIVE                               70
    PIRATES                                    82
    THE HUMPBACKED ISLAND                      96
    IN THE CITY OF ROME                       116
    THE STORY OF THE TWINS                    132
    TRAVEL ADVENTURES                         142
    THE CITY IN THE SEA                       158
    THE GONDOLIER'S HOME                      172
    _A Letter to the Boys and Girls_          185
    _Pronunciation Guide for Italian Words_   188

[Illustration: The Arrival at Naples]

[Illustration: _A map showing the places the Sunbonnet Babies visited
in Italy_]

[Illustration]




THE SUNBONNET BABIES IN ITALY




THE ARRIVAL AT NAPLES


"See that smoking mountain, Molly! Look! I believe it is a volcano. It
is Mount Vesuvius. Yes, I know it is Mount Vesuvius!"

May, the Sunbonnet Baby, was talking with Molly, her little Sunbonnet
Baby sister. They were standing on the deck of a great ocean steamer.
They had been sailing on the steamer for days and days. They had
sailed more than four thousand miles away from their home in America.
Now they were almost at the end of their journey. They would very soon
be in Italy.

The big steamer was moving slowly up the beautiful Bay of Naples,
straight toward the busy, noisy city of Naples. Rising from the
shore, not far away, was the smoking mountain of Vesuvius, about which
the Sunbonnet Babies' father had told them such strange stories.

He told them that Mount Vesuvius was like a great kettle full of
boiling rock, that sometimes the fire under the kettle becomes so hot
it boils over, covering the mountain sides and even the plains with
melted rock and hot ashes. Such mountains, he said, are called
volcanoes.

Molly and May stood on the deck of the steamer eagerly watching the
smoking volcano, wondering if it would ever boil over again.

"I almost wish it would boil over now!" cried Molly. "Wouldn't it be
wonderful to see red-hot rock come right out of the top of the
mountain and fall down all around it!"

"Yes, it would be wonderful," said May, "but I am sure I don't want to
see it. The hot ashes might even reach us here on the steamer."

"Father says he will take us to see the old city of Pompeii, which was
buried by Vesuvius nearly two thousand years ago. Men are digging
away the ashes and cinders now, so we can see just how the people used
to live."

[Illustration: _"Pompeii must be right over there," said May_]

"Pompeii must be right over there near the foot of the mountain," said
May. "Isn't it strange to think that those trees and farms may be
growing on top of an old, old city?"

"Look at the big city just ahead of our boat!" cried Molly. "It is
Naples. We are almost there!"

"Why, the city is the shape of a big, new moon," said May. "It curves
right around the shore of this lovely, blue bay, and climbs up
the hillside to meet the blue sky. Our boat is sailing straight in
between the long points."

"O May! Do you suppose it is snowing at home to-day? It seems like
summer here, but it is really the middle of March. The trees and the
grass are all green. And there is a boat full of oranges and lemons
just being unloaded."

"See that basketful of beautiful roses! I hope we can go ashore
quickly. I want to buy a lovely red rose for mother to wear."

Not many minutes later the happy travelers were hurrying from the big
steamer. There were other travelers going ashore, too, and a crowd of
noisy, jolly people seemed to be waiting for them. Most of the women
and little girls were bareheaded and wore gay-colored dresses and
aprons. They were very much interested in the strange travelers,
especially in the two little Sunbonnet Babies.

A smiling, brown-eyed Italian girl ran along beside them, peeping at
the two happy faces hidden under the big sunbonnets, and talking very
fast in a soft, sweet voice.

[Illustration: _They knew she liked them because she smiled so
sweetly_]

The Sunbonnet Babies could not understand one word she said, but they
knew she liked them because she smiled so sweetly.

If it had not been for this kind little girl, Molly and May might
easily have been frightened. A great many men and boys were standing
close about them shouting and swinging their arms, trying to get
passengers for their carriages. Even the Sunbonnet Babies' father did
not quite know what to do, so many men wanted to carry his bags for
him.

[Illustration: _She took Molly and May each by the hand_]

The little girl, seeing his trouble, looked up with a smile and asked
him to follow her. She then took Molly and May each by the hand and
led them through the crowd to a long line of carriages. In a moment a
smiling, brown-eyed man was beside them, bowing and offering to drive
them to their hotel.

The little girl called the man _il padre_, which means "father," and
he spoke to her as _Tessa mia_, which means "my Tessa." Indeed, the
little girl looked so much like the brown-eyed man, it was easy
to guess that she was his own little daughter. They had the same
bright smile, the same soft voice, and the same kind manner.

[Illustration: _They each took a big brown penny out of their bags_]

The travelers gladly stepped into the man's low carriage and told him
where to drive them, saying a pleasant _grazie_ to the little girl
whom they were leaving behind. Yes, they did something more than just
say "thank you." They each took a big brown penny from their bags and
dropped the pennies into Tessa's hand.

Then they all three said _grazie_ again, and laughed and waved their
good-bys. The driver cracked his long whip, and the horses dashed away
up the busy street.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The First Drive]

[Illustration]




THE FIRST DRIVE


The Sunbonnet Babies were now really frightened. The streets were
crowded, and the drivers all seemed to be trying to get ahead of the
carriages in front of them. They cracked their whips, they shouted to
one another in loud voices, and they drove their horses as fast as
they could make them go.

The noise and the strange faces and the stranger language might have
frightened even the Overall Boys just a little, if they had been with
Molly and May.

But no one needed to be frightened. The men in Naples are fine
drivers, though they do like to make a great show about it. And the
nervous little horses enjoy dashing through the streets to the sound
of cracking whips.

Everybody was jolly and happy, so the Sunbonnet Babies soon forgot
their fears and began to enjoy their first drive in Italy. The
carriage passed along a busy street where there were many small shops
and handsome stores.

After a few minutes Molly said, in a somewhat disappointed voice,
"Why, this street looks like the streets in our city at home. I
thought it would look different in Italy."

"Look up that side street," said her father. "Did you ever see a
street like that in America?"

"That is not a street, father," said Molly. "That is a long flight of
stairs. But why do they build stairs out of doors?"

"Yes, that is a street, and a very popular one, too," said her father.
"Naples is built on the side of a hill, you know, and many of the
streets that go up the hill are flights of steps like this one."

"O father, may we get out and walk a little way up the street?" asked
Molly. "I want to see what all those people are doing."

"And I want to take some pictures with my camera," said May.

[Illustration: _They lifted the long, white strips of macaroni high
above their heads_]

So they quickly got out of the carriage and began climbing the long
flight of steps. It was about noon, and some of the people seemed to
be eating their midday meal.

One poor old man was sitting on a step eating some hard bread and
olives. Near him were two barefooted boys who had just bought a plate
heaping full of macaroni. A man stood in an open doorway cooking the
macaroni over a queer little stove and selling it to the people.

The boys had no knives or forks to use, but fingers were much
better. They lifted the long white strips of macaroni high above their
heads, then they opened their mouths very wide, and down it slipped.
They didn't bite it, they didn't chew it, they just sucked the long
pieces down their throats as fast as they could. They seemed to be
racing with each other to see who could swallow the most in the
shortest time.

Molly and May watched the boys anxiously until the macaroni was all
gone. Then how they laughed and clapped their hands! They thought it
was the strangest dinner and the strangest game they had ever seen.

The boys thought it was a fine dinner. They were business boys. That
morning they had sold more brushes and fans than usual, so they were
celebrating by having some delicious macaroni for dinner.

[Illustration]

These boys made their own brushes and fans, and went about the streets
selling them. Of course Molly and May each bought one of the fans, for
they wanted the boys to have another good dinner the next day.

As the little party walked on up the steps they saw many things that
were strange and interesting. Little children were leaning out of the
high windows, talking and laughing with other children in the houses
across the way.

Women were hanging out their washing on ropes stretched from one
window to another, and talked loudly with people who were on the steps
below.

One woman stood on a narrow iron balcony in front of her window and
lowered a basket by a long rope. When the basket reached the steps, a
small boy ran to it and took out a covered bowl in which he found two
big copper pennies.

The boy carried the pennies to a man near by, who was making hot snail
soup over a small stove. The man filled the bowl with some of his
delicious soup, and the boy put it carefully back into the basket.
Then the woman drew it slowly up, up to her high balcony.

The small boy reached the balcony almost as quickly as the basket did,
for he knew that some of that hot soup was for him, and he liked snail
soup almost better than macaroni.

[Illustration: _One woman stood on an iron balcony, lowered a basket
by a long rope_]

As Molly and May watched the preparations for dinner on the little
balcony, May suddenly cried, "Look! Look! They have a big dog up
there!"

"No, that is not a dog, it is a goat," said her father. "I suppose it
lives up there with the family and gives them milk every day. That
family must have more money than most of the people who live on this
street. They eat snail soup for dinner, they have a balcony in front
of their window, and they keep a goat."

"Perhaps the little boy's father owns one of these small shops and
makes lots of money selling macaroni, or soup, or onions, or bread, or
flowers, or roasted chestnuts," said May.

"Well, shall we buy our dinner here, or shall we go to the hotel for
it?" asked their father. "Wouldn't you like some snail soup, or
macaroni, or onions for dinner?"

"Oh, no, no!" cried both Molly and May. "We are hungry, but we don't
want snail soup or onions."

So they hurried back to their carriage and were soon driving rapidly
up the hill to a fine hotel, where they were to stay for several days.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Seeing Strange Sights]

[Illustration]




SEEING STRANGE SIGHTS


Next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, the Sunbonnet Babies were
out upon the sidewalk watching some small boys spin their tops.

One of the boys had a top which looked like a tiny doll with a very
full skirt. The boy gave the top a strong twist with his hands, and
away it went dancing across the sidewalk and back again, just as if it
were alive.

When the boy saw that his dancing doll pleased the Sunbonnet Babies,
he sprang up and made a very low bow and held out his cap for a penny,
saying, "Un soldo, signorine!"

The Sunbonnet Babies' father had put a number of big Italian pennies
into their bags, and had said they might spend them just as they
wished, so of course each of the happy, barefooted boys received
a penny, for which they said _grazie_ a great many times.

Molly and May had already learned that _grazie_ in Italian means
"thank you" in English, and that _un soldo_ means "one penny."

While they were giving their pennies to the boys, and while everybody
was laughing and saying _grazie_, something very interesting was
coming up the street.

The sharp tinkle of a bell made Molly look up quickly and cry, "O May!
Look at those little goats! A man is driving them up the street. He is
stopping at the door of that house. What do you suppose he is going to
do?"

"I know!" cried May. "He is going to milk the goats. Look! A woman has
come out of the house with a tin cup in her hand."

[Illustration]

"Yes, and now the man is milking right into her cup."

[Illustration: _"Oh, what a queer milk cart!" laughed Molly_]

"And there are two other women who want their cups filled."

"Oh, what a queer milk cart!" laughed Molly. "People surely get fresh
milk when it comes from a live milk cart like that."

"See what the man is doing now!" exclaimed May. "He is driving one of
the goats right into the house. I believe he is going to take it up
stairs. Probably some one lives up there who cannot bring her cup down
to the street, so he drives a goat up to her door and milks it there."

"I wonder if goat's milk is as good as cow's milk. I should like to
try it some time," said May.

Just then the Sunbonnet Babies heard a pleasant voice saying, "Buon
giorno!" and they looked around to see their driver of the day before
smiling at them from his carriage.

"Oh, good morning!" they said. "We will go and tell father that you
are here. Perhaps he will want you to take us for a drive."

Sure enough, in a few minutes they were all seated in the low carriage
ready for a long drive into the country. The driver, whose name was
Pietro, sat high up in front, close behind his two small horses.

When everyone was ready, Pietro cracked his long whip in the air, the
horses jingled the bells on their high collars, and away they went
through the narrow, crooked streets.

It did not take them long to reach the country road which followed the
shore of the lovely blue bay. Here and there beside the road grew tall
pine trees whose tops looked like great, green umbrellas raised
against the deep blue sky. On the hillside above the road were small
groves of lemon and orange trees bearing heavy loads of green and
yellow fruit.

[Illustration: _The carriage passed a number of country people
carrying baskets_]

The carriage passed a number of country people walking toward the city
carrying baskets full of things to sell--jewelry and flowers and
fruit. Two small boys carried strings of onions over their shoulders.
They hurried happily along, as if they expected to make their fortune
selling those onions. They called a merry "Buon giorno" to the little
American girls as the carriage rolled past them.

[Illustration: _Two small boys carried strings of onions over their
shoulders_]

Soon the road led through a village where the people seemed very poor
indeed. The little children were ragged and dirty and hungry, and
there were, oh, so many of them! Most of the children were too small
to earn money, but they were not too small to beg for it.

"Oh, I never, never saw such poor little children!" cried May. "Where
do you suppose they all come from? See, they are running after our
carriage and begging for _un soldo_. Let's give them some pennies,
Molly."

[Illustration: _Molly and May opened their bags and began throwing
pennies_]

So Molly and May opened their bags and began throwing pennies into the
crowd of eager little children, who kept up with the carriage even
though the horses were trotting fast.

It was great fun for everybody. The children caught the flying pennies
in their mouths, in their caps, and in their hands, scrambling for
them on the dusty road. But soon the horses trotted too fast for them,
and they were left far behind. Molly and May could see them dividing
the pennies so each child should have at least one.

After a while Pietro looked down from his high seat and said that he
would like to take them to a very wonderful place if they would not
ask him any questions about it until they got there.

Pietro had been so kind they trusted him and told him he might drive
them anywhere he wished. He then turned his horses away from the blue
bay and up a low hill, where almost no trees or green things were
growing. At the top of the hill Pietro said they must leave the
carriage and each pay a _lira_ to the gatekeeper there, and they would
see something interesting.

They wondered if there really could be anything interesting on such a
barren-looking hill, but they did as Pietro told them. Then a man,
with a burning torch in his hand, led the way through a gate.

"Now," he said in quite broken English, "I will show you something
wonderful!"

"This is not a bit wonderful," said Molly. "It looks like a big
football field with a high wall of earth all around it. There isn't
even a flower or a bit of green grass anywhere."

"Follow me," said their guide, "and you shall see the wonderful thing.
Perhaps you will be frightened, but I will take care of you."

So they followed the guide across the bare, round field. But they had
not gone far when Molly said anxiously, "How strange the ground sounds
as we walk on it! It sounds hollow."

"Yes, and how hot it is!" said May. "I can feel it right through my
shoes. It almost burns my feet."

"Why, it burns mine, too, May!"

"Do you hear that queer, bubbling noise, Molly? Listen! It sounds like
a pudding baking in mother's oven. What do you suppose it is?"

"I will show you," said the guide. "A _very big_ pudding is being
baked in a _very big_ oven. You are walking on the top crust of that
pudding. Would you like to take a look underneath it? Here is a man
who will scrape off some of the crust and let us see what is going
on."

And so, with a hoe, the man scraped away two or three inches of loose
gravel, and there they saw hot sand boiling and bubbling just like a
hot pudding. A cloud of black smoke rose from the boiling sand,
and a very bad odor made Molly and May cover their noses with their
handkerchiefs. May tried to pick up a small stone near her feet to
carry home with her, but it was so hot she dropped it very quickly.

[Illustration: _"Oh! oh!" cried May. "Is the world going to burn
up?"_]

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Where are we? Is this a volcano?" cried Molly.

"That's just what it is," said their guide. "This is the volcano of
Solfatara, and we are on the top of it. This big round field, or
basin, is the crater of the volcano. It boiled over many years
ago, then it cooled off. Now it is getting hotter again, but it is not
nearly so hot as Vesuvius over yonder."

"Oh, it's hot enough!" exclaimed May. "I don't like volcanoes. I'm not
having a nice time. I want to go back to the carriage. What if the
volcano should boil over while we are on it?"

"It will not," said the guide. "It is not hot enough yet. But
something may happen some time. I hope I shall not be here when it
does. Now let us take a look into those cracks where the smoke and gas
are pouring out. I will swing my torch over one of the cracks and you
shall see something wonderful. Now watch!"

In a moment hot flames shot several feet into the air, and clouds of
black smoke surrounded the little party.

"Oh! oh!" cried May. "Is the world going to burn up?"

"No, indeed!" said her father. "Don't be frightened. That was only a
little gas which the guide set on fire with his torch, just as mother
lights her gas stove at home. There is a pretty big furnace underneath
us, and it sends off a good deal of gas. It is the gas that
smells so bad and makes us cover our noses."

[Illustration: _A cloud of black smoke rose from the boiling sand_]

"I don't like it," said Molly. "Please can't we go somewhere else? I
don't like volcanoes."

"I don't like them either," said her mother. "We have seen enough of
this one, I am sure."

So they went back quickly to the carriage and were soon on their way
to Naples.

"Just think how hot the earth must be inside, if it can boil so near
the surface!" exclaimed Molly.

"You know, ages and ages ago, our world was part of the red-hot sun,"
said their father. "When it broke away from the sun it began to whirl
around very fast. Little by little it has grown cooler, until now
there are only a few places on the surface that are still hot. These
places are called volcanoes. Once in a while the hot mass inside
bursts through and burns everything it touches."

"I am glad I have seen Solfatara," said May, "but I think I don't care
to go so near another volcano--no, not even Vesuvius."

[Illustration]

[Illustration: A Visit to the Museum]

[Illustration]




A VISIT TO THE MUSEUM


Every morning, as long as the Sunbonnet Babies stayed in Naples,
Pietro drove up to their hotel to see if he could be of service to
them. Once he brought his little daughter, Tessa, for Molly and May
wanted very much to see their first little Italian friend again.

That morning Pietro drove them across the city to visit the great
museum. Tessa had been to the museum many times, and knew which rooms
would interest the Sunbonnet Babies most.

"Follow me," she said. "I will show you the oldest and loveliest
things you ever saw."

Fortunately the Sunbonnet Babies' father and mother understood Tessa's
language, so they could tell Molly and May in English all that Tessa
said in Italian. Before long the two little girls began to
understand a little of the strange language themselves.

They spent nearly the whole forenoon in the museum looking at strange,
old things that had once been in the homes of Pompeii.

The city of Pompeii was buried under many feet of ashes thrown out by
the volcano in the year seventy-nine. It remained buried more than
seventeen hundred years. In fact, the world had forgotten all about
the old city, when one day an Italian workman discovered a very old
house right underneath his farm. Some say he was digging a well when
he discovered it.

Other men helped dig away the earth and ashes, and now, after more
than a hundred years, a large part of the old city is uncovered.

The strangest thing about it is that the ashes and cinders which
buried the city did very little injury to the houses, except to crush
in the roofs.

Many of the beautiful paintings on the walls of the houses, as well as
lovely marble vases and fountains, are almost as perfect now as when
they were buried so many, many years ago. But the sun and the rain and
the air might spoil them if they were left in the uncovered
houses, now that the ashes have been taken out. So the best things
have been carried up to the city of Naples and put in the museum there
for safe-keeping.

It was some of these interesting old things Tessa wanted the Sunbonnet
Babies to see. They wandered together through room after room of the
great museum, looking at vases and dishes of all shapes and kinds.
There were queer old bronze pots and pans and kettles, and lovely
bottles and pitchers made of beautiful blue-green glass. There was an
iron fireplace, and there were queer bronze lamps and money chests and
rings and bracelets and combs and needles and thimbles and fishhooks.
But the children were most interested in some slates and slate pencils
and inkstands and pens and musical instruments which they found there.

"It looks as if the boys and girls who lived two thousand years ago
had to study and practice just as we do now," said Molly.

"Yes, and the women baked bread, too," said Tessa. "Here are some
round loaves that a poor woman was taking out of her oven when
the ashes from the volcano covered her."

[Illustration: _The children were interested in some slates and slate
pencils_]

"And here are jars of apricots and olives which were put up nearly two
thousand years ago. I wonder how they would taste now."

"I am glad I don't have to eat them," said Molly. "But when are we
going to Pompeii to see where all these things were found, father?"

"We will go to-morrow, if you like," said her father. "But I am hungry
now, and Pietro is waiting outside to take us back to the hotel."

"We are all hungry, and I guess we are all tired, too. I know I am,"
said May.

As the little party drove back through the busy streets they were not
too tired to enjoy the sights around them.

"I believe half the people of Naples live out of doors," said Molly.
"See, there is a shoemaker working at his bench right on the sidewalk.
And look at that tailor, sitting by his shop door, sewing as fast as
he can sew."

"Do you know what that man on the corner is doing?" asked Pietro.

"He is writing," said May.

[Illustration]

"Yes," said Pietro. "He writes letters for people who cannot write for
themselves. He is writing a letter now for the woman who stands beside
him. She tells him what she wants to say and he writes it down for
her. A great many of our people cannot read or write, so the public
letter writers do a very good business."

[Illustration: _"Oh! oh! oh! May we have them?" they cried all
together_]

"I should rather sell flowers than write letters," said Tessa.

"So should I!" exclaimed May. "Look at the beautiful roses that man
has to sell. He wants us to buy some. Please stop, Pietro!"

But before Pietro could stop his horses, the man had sprung up onto
the low step of the carriage and was holding a big bunch of beautiful
roses right in front of the three happy children.

"Oh! oh! oh! May we have them? How much are they?" they cried all
together.

"Una lira, signorine, una lira," said the man, smiling and lifting his
cap.

"O father!" cried May. "He will sell us a big bouquet of beautiful
roses for one lira. That is only a few cents, isn't it? Please buy
some for us."

In a moment one bunch of the lovely roses was in Molly's hands and
another bunch was in May's hands and another in Tessa's hands, while
the happy flower man hurried back to his stand with three whole lire
in his pocket.

A little later Pietro and Tessa were driving alone toward their home
on a crowded side street. Tessa still held the lovely roses, and tied
up in her handkerchief was the money the Sunbonnet Babies' father had
paid Pietro and his little daughter for taking care of them all the
forenoon. It seemed a real fortune to Tessa. She had a wonderful time
planning how she would like to spend it, and thinking about her
generous little American friends.

[Illustration: An Afternoon in the Park]

[Illustration]




AN AFTERNOON IN THE PARK


That afternoon the Sunbonnet Babies begged to visit the lovely park
near the shore of the bay. They wanted to run and play games with
other children under the tall green trees.

"How would you like to take a look under the deep water and see all
the strange creatures that live there?" asked their father.

"Oh, that would be wonderful! But how can we do it?" asked Molly.

"We can do it easily when we get to the park," said her father.

"Let's do it the very first thing. Just think of seeing how all the
big and little fish live 'way down in the deep, deep ocean!"

"I am afraid we shall be drowned," said May. "I think I shall not like
to go under the deep water any better than I liked to walk on top
of the volcano."

"Why, it will be as easy as walking on this path," said their father.
"Here we are at the door already. Shall we open it and take a look
into the fish world?"

"Oh, dear! I feel as if I were Alice in Wonderland," said May. "Is
this the door into the long, dark tunnel? I wonder if we shall fall
down, down, down the tunnel just as Alice did. O father! Will the fish
talk with us, the same as the rabbit and all the other animals talked
with Alice?"

"If you should happen to fall asleep, as Alice did, the fish will
probably tell you all their secrets," said her father. "But there is
no long, dark tunnel here down which you must fall. We will each pay
this man at the door two lire, then he will open the door and let us
go in."

In another moment the door closed behind them, and they stood in the
strangest place they had ever seen. It looked like the bottom of the
great ocean, with ragged rocks and slippery seaweed everywhere,
and many kinds of strange fish swimming quietly about them.

And yet, the water did not wet the children, and they could not touch
the fish. A strong glass wall held back both the water and the fish.

Molly and May walked along a narrow path close beside the glass wall,
and watched the queer fish chase each other about in the water or lie
lazily under the shadow of a big rock.

At last Molly said, "Why, the bottom of the ocean looks very much like
the top of the earth. There are hills and valleys and rocks and sand
and green things growing everywhere."

"See that tiny forest of pink coral. I suppose our coral neck chains
grew at the bottom of the ocean in just that way."

"And see those timid little animals peeping from the doors of their
pretty shell houses. I wonder if they like always to carry about such
heavy houses on their backs."

"Here is a whole family of lazy turtles," called May. "Look at that
big fellow! I believe his shell is large enough for me to creep into,
if he were not inside of it."

[Illustration: _"Look at that big fellow!"_]

"I advise you not to try it while he is there," said her father. "If
he once took a bite of you, he would never let go."

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Molly. "But see those little starfish and that big
soft jellyfish. They are not afraid of the turtle. And those eels are
playing close about him."

Just then a frightened scream came from May, who had walked ahead of
the others.

"Come quickly!" she cried. "Here is a big, big round thing with eight
long arms, or legs, I don't know which they are. They keep
reaching out as if they were trying to get hold of something. And its
two big round eyes are looking straight at me! I'm glad the glass wall
is between us. It's the worst looking thing I ever saw in all my life!
What is it, father?"

[Illustration: _"Its two big round eyes are looking straight at me!"_]

"Well, well!" exclaimed her father. "That is an octopus. A real, live
octopus! It is a big one, too. It can easily reach six or seven feet
with those long legs."

"Why is it called an octopus, father?" asked Molly. "Why haven't we
seen one before, and what does it do with so many legs?"

"It is called an octopus because it has eight feet, and the word
octopus means 'eight-footed.' We have never seen one before because it
lives at the bottom of the ocean, and we have not visited the bottom
of the ocean until to-day. I suppose it uses its feet more in catching
food than it does in walking. I have heard that when it winds them
around anything it never lets go."

Just then their mother called, "Come with me! I have found the
strangest fish you ever heard of. If you touch the fish, it will give
you a tiny electric shock. Who wants to try it?"

"Oh, I do!" cried Molly, and in went her hand to stroke the sleepy
fish lazily swimming about in a small tank of water. But the hand came
out more quickly than it went in.

"Oh! oh!" she cried. "My hand prickles just as if it were asleep. What
a strange, strange fish! You touch it, May."

"No!" said May. "I don't want to touch it. I don't want an electric
shock. I want to go back to the park and play."

"Very well," said her father. "I believe we have stayed with these
deep-sea creatures long enough. We will go out through the secret
door, the way we came in."

And so, in a few moments, they were all standing in the bright
sunshine looking out over the deep blue water which was the home of so
many strange and interesting creatures.

"Have we really been 'way down under that deep water, father?" asked
Molly. "Or was it just a fish museum that we were in?"

"That is a good name for it," said her father. "We have been in an
aquarium. Many of the fish that are caught alive in the Mediterranean
Sea are brought to this aquarium, so people may study and enjoy them."

"I feel as if I had really and truly been to the bottom of the sea,"
said Molly. "I am glad I am not a fish. I should much rather be a
little girl and have a ride in that goat cart. Those Italian children
have just had a ride. See, they are each paying the man a penny.
O sir! Please may we ride next?"

[Illustration: _May shook the reins and away they went_]

"And please may I drive the goats?" asked May. "I know how to drive my
pony."

In another moment Molly and May were climbing into the small cart. May
then shook the reins and away they went, with the man following close
behind them.

They passed groups of jolly boys and girls playing marbles, spinning
tops, or rolling hoops. They were clean, well-dressed children, not
ragged and poor like so many children Molly and May had seen in
other parts of the city.

[Illustration: _Suddenly a little boy began to race with the goats_]

Smiling nurse maids pushed dear little babies about in handsome
carriages, or sat on shaded benches watching the little children at
their play.

Everyone was interested in the small goat cart with its happy
passengers.

Suddenly a little boy who was rolling a hoop began to race with the
goats. He ran along beside them, driving his hoop as fast as he
could make it go. The goats did not want to be left behind, so they
trotted faster and still faster, but the little boy with his rolling
hoop kept up with them.

The Sunbonnet Babies began to be a bit frightened, they were riding so
very fast. May pulled on the reins and cried, "Whoa! whoa! stop!
stop!" The small Italian goats did not understand English, so they ran
faster than ever. They were enjoying the race, and so was the man who
owned them. But when he saw that his little passengers were afraid, he
sprang forward to stop his team. Just at that moment the goats turned
sharply about, and over went the cart, Sunbonnet Babies and all.

Everybody was then really frightened, though only for a moment. Molly
and May were on their feet in a jiffy. The boys and girls all laughed
and talked at the same time, and the man scolded his goats for their
naughty trick.

"Please don't scold the goats," said the little boy with the hoop.
"You ought to praise them. They knew if you stopped them they would
lose the race, so they tried to turn around and go in the other
direction. Then the cart tipped over and spoiled the fun."

"It was fun, wasn't it?" exclaimed Molly. "But let's not do it over
again. Let's have a tea party now."

"Oh, yes! Let's have a tea party!" cried May. "Here is a lovely place
for it in front of this pretty tea house. Who wants some grape juice
and some little cakes?"

"Oh, I do!" "And I do!" cried two happy voices in real American
English, for the little boy with the hoop was an American, just like
the Sunbonnet Babies. And so they had the jolliest tea party under the
big trees in the park that three little American children ever had
together, which is saying a very great deal.

[Illustration: The Buried City]

[Illustration]




THE BURIED CITY


"Goody! This is the day we are going to Pompeii!" cried May, as she
opened her eyes quite late next morning. "I hope father has not
forgotten his promise."

"Indeed he has not!" said her mother. "We have the nicest kind of a
surprise for you, but we were afraid you were going to sleep all day."

"Oh, what is it? What is the surprise, mother?" cried both little
girls at once.

"It is something splendid, and it will last a whole week, perhaps
longer," said their mother. "Each morning you shall hear about the
surprise for that day, but only for one day at a time."

"Please tell us what it is for to-day," begged Molly. "What fun it
will be to have a new surprise every day!"

"Well," said their mother, "how would you like to have a picnic dinner
to-day?"

"Oh, we should like it better than anything else we can think of!"
exclaimed May. "But I thought we were going to Pompeii to-day."

"We are," said their mother. "We shall have our picnic in the
prettiest place we can find in old Pompeii. People do not live in the
ruined city now, for the houses have no roofs. But father says they
have the cunningest little inhabitants he ever saw. They are part of
the surprise, so I must not tell about them now."

[Illustration]

"Is the picnic basket ready, mother?" asked Molly. "Is it brimful of
good things to eat?"

"Yes, everything is ready, and Pietro will take us to the station just
as soon as you have had your breakfast."

After a short but very rough ride the train stopped at a small
station, and a man called, "Pompeii!" as he walked quickly down the
platform unlocking the doors of the compartments.

As the Sunbonnet Babies stepped from the train, they expected to see
the famous ruined city, but they saw only a few whitewashed
houses which did not look ruined at all.

[Illustration: _Molly and May felt as if they were in another world_]

"O father!" cried Molly. "People are living in this town. This can't
be Pompeii."

"Yes it is," said her father. "This is new Pompeii. The old city which
we have come to see is only a short walk from here."

When they finally passed through the gate into the city, which had
lain buried more than seventeen hundred years, Molly and May felt as
if they were in another world. They walked down the narrow, quiet
streets, looking into the empty shops and houses, trying to imagine
twenty thousand people living and working and playing here so long,
long ago. The smoking volcano not far away made them wonder what the
people were doing when the hot ashes buried their city.

The guide said many of the people probably escaped, though some stayed
to care for their homes and were buried in them. He told how a little
mother bird was found sitting on her nest, buried by the ashes. She
would not leave the little eggs that needed her wings for protection.
He told, too, how a Roman soldier had been found standing at his place
of duty when all his friends had run for safety.

Many of the streets were not wide enough for two small carriages to
pass, and the sidewalks were so narrow that the Sunbonnet Babies could
hardly walk side by side on them.

Molly and May thought it great fun to jump across the streets on the
high stepping-stones which they found at every crossing. They played
they were dainty ladies of two thousand years ago who did not
want to soil their pretty shoes.

[Illustration: _It was great fun to jump across the streets on the
high stepping-stones_]

At last they came to a house where a watchdog with a rope around his
neck lay in front of the door. He looked rather fierce, but they were
not afraid, for the dog was not alive. He was only the picture of a
watchdog, made by means of small black and white stones placed close
together in the sidewalk. Just below him were two Latin words meaning
"Beware of the Dog."

[Illustration: _The rooms all opened upon a lovely little garden and
court_]

The outside walls of most of the houses had no openings, except the
front door, though some had small shops on each side of the door,
where the owner carried on his business.

Molly and May stood behind the counter in one of these shops and
played they were selling ripe figs to the passers-by. They went
through a small door into the house and found that the rooms all
opened upon a lovely little court and garden, around which they were
built.

This house was not so badly injured as some, so it looks much as
it did when people lived in it long ago. Everything has been left
almost as it was found when the ashes were taken out. The little
garden has been replanted with flowers and green grass.

Around the four sides of the garden there is a broad porch, and
opening from the porch are living rooms, bedrooms, and dining rooms.
On the walls are many pictures, which are almost as beautiful as when
they were first painted.

While they were walking about in this lovely old house, May suddenly
saw a queer little animal. It was as green as grass, and it had a long
pointed tail and four big feet.

"What can it be?" she cried.

"I think I know," said Molly. "It is one of the tiny inhabitants
mother said we should find here. I think it is a lizard. Look! There
are two more. How fast they run! They are frightened. Poor little
things!"

The guide gave a long, low whistle which made the little lizards raise
their heads and listen. He whistled softly, until they had lost all
fear, standing very still while the Sunbonnet Babies touched
their soft, green backs. Molly even lifted one up gently by its long
pointed tail. But this frightened the little creature again, and it
jumped so hard it left its tail hanging between Molly's fingers, while
it ran across the garden and up the wall of the porch, without any
tail.

[Illustration: _Molly lifted up a little lizard very gently by its
long pointed tail_]

Poor Molly was now as frightened as the little lizard, for she thought
it would surely die without its tail. But the guide said it would run
away and wait for another tail to grow, though he thought lizards
didn't like to lose their tails.

Soon they came to the market place of the old city, and the Sunbonnet
Babies begged to have their picnic dinner there. It was not like any
other picnic that Molly and May had ever had. There were no trees to
sit under, and they were not allowed to build a bonfire. But they made
believe that the tall columns of the old houses were great trees two
thousand years old, and they were sure Mount Vesuvius was the biggest
bonfire any picnic party ever had.

Before the afternoon was over, however, the Sunbonnet Babies had seen
enough of the dead city. They were glad to leave it to the timid
little lizards, while they went to find a real house in the new city
of Pompeii where they could spend the night.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: A Long Drive]

[Illustration]




A LONG DRIVE


"What's the secret for to-day, mother?" asked Molly very early next
morning. "Are we going to climb Mount Vesuvius?"

"I hope not," said her mother. "Solfatara was bad enough for me. I
don't want to go so near to another volcano."

"Neither do I," said May. "But what _are_ we going to do, mother?"

"Father says he will tell us the secret at the breakfast table, under
the orange trees in the garden. Who will be ready first?"

"I shall be!" cried Molly.

"No, I shall be!" cried May. "I am glad we didn't go back to noisy
Naples last night. I love this dear little 'Tavern of the Sun'! I
believe the garden is the only parlor the hotel has. It is a
really and truly sun parlor, isn't it, mother?"

"We are ready for the secret, father," called Molly, a few moments
later, as she skipped out into the lovely garden.

"Well, let us have some breakfast first. Then we will have the
secret," said her father.

"Look! We are going to have bread and honey and delicious hot
chocolate for breakfast," said Molly. "And best of all, we are going
to eat it under this lovely orange tree."

While they were enjoying the sweet taste of the bees' honey and the
sweet smell of the orange blossoms, a more wonderful sweetness came to
their ears. It came from a tall, dark tree near by. It was the
sweetest bird's song the little Americans had ever heard.

"O Maria! Please tell us the name of that wonderful bird," they begged
the pretty Italian maid who brought them a fresh pot of honey.

"Why, that is our nightingale," answered Maria, laughing. "He has a
nest somewhere here in our garden. I think there must be some
little brown eggs in it now. During the month of April he sings all
day and all night, except for two or three hours just after sunset.
Oh, we love our little nightingale!"

[Illustration: _A nightingale had a nest somewhere in the garden_]

"I love him, too!" cried Molly. "I wish he would live in our garden
trees at home."

"Well, children, are you ready for the secret?" asked their father, at
last. "Here is Pippo, who wants to take us for a long drive."

"Is that the secret, father?" asked the Sunbonnet Babies eagerly.

"Yes, Pippo is going to take us on one of the most beautiful drives in
all the world. We shall spend two days on the way, for we shall not
want to hurry."

A few moments later they were all seated in a low Italian carriage,
with Pippo on the driver's seat, high in front of them. He cracked his
long whip many times above the backs of the two small horses, but they
seemed to like the sound, for they dashed along over the hilly road as
if it were play.

After driving several hours over this lovely mountain road they came
to the beautiful blue waters of the Gulf of Salerno. Now began the
most wonderful part of the drive. The road followed the shore of the
gulf, clinging all the way to the steep slopes of the mountains, which
came close down to the water's edge.

Molly and May were wild with excitement over the strangeness and
beauty of it all. Molly begged to sit up on the seat beside Pippo,
where she could see better and where he could tell her all about the
wonderful things they were passing.

At first the mountains sloped gently away, above and below the road.
Small groves of orange and lemon trees and vineyards of purple grapes
grew on the sunny slopes, while the blue waters of the gulf sparkled
like millions of diamonds under the brilliant sunshine.

They passed tiny fishing villages where barefooted women and little
children seemed to be the only inhabitants. The men were probably away
on fishing trips, or were sleeping lazily in the shade. In one of the
villages the Sunbonnet Babies begged to stop and buy some oranges.

"O Pippo! Please ask if we may pick a few oranges from that tree just
above the road," begged May.

Pippo smilingly said a few words to a woman standing near by, and she
smilingly answered, "Si, si, signor. As many as they wish."

Molly and May were out of the carriage in a moment saying, "Grazie,
grazie, signora!" as they scrambled up the slope to a place where they
could reach the ripe, yellow fruit. The woman kindly showed them the
ripest and juiciest oranges. Then she broke a small branch from a
higher part of the tree, and gave it with a pretty bow to the little
American girls.

[Illustration: _"I never tasted anything so good as this orange"_]

"Look, May!" exclaimed Molly. "Here are ripe oranges and green oranges
and lovely white blossoms all growing on the same branch. I'm sure I
never smelled anything so sweet as these orange blossoms!"

"And I'm sure I never tasted anything so good as this orange!" said
May, who had made a hole in one of her biggest oranges and was eagerly
sucking out the sweet juice.

"I wish I had something pretty to give the woman," said Molly. "I know
what I will do! I will give her my hair ribbon. She may have a little
girl at home who will like it. Mother always carries extra hair
ribbons for us, you know."

[Illustration]

So, out from under the pretty sunbonnet came a big pink bow, which was
given quickly to the kind woman. Into her other hand May slipped
something from her purse. A moment later Pippo's long whip cracked
over the horses' heads, and they were off.

The children waved good-by to their new friend, but she was looking
with happy eyes at the beautiful pink bow in one hand and at the
little piece of money in the other.

While Molly and May were busy gathering oranges, their mother was
opening the well-filled lunch box. The next half-hour Pippo let his
horses go as slowly as they liked, while the party in the carriage ate
their picnic dinner and enjoyed the lovely scenery. Of course Pippo
had his share of the lunch, which he seemed to think was very fine.

By the middle of the afternoon they had reached Amalfi, the largest
and probably the oldest fishing village on this rocky coast.

"We will spend the night in that old monastery on the cliff," said the
Sunbonnet Babies' father.

"Very well, sir," answered Pippo. "But you will have a good many steps
to climb before you get up there."

[Illustration]

The steps were very soon found, nearly two hundred of them, and up,
up, up the little party climbed.

"How did the monks ever build such a great monastery 'way up here on
the mountain side?" exclaimed Molly. "It seems as if it might fall
into the water any minute."

"A piece of it did fall into the water a few years ago," said a
smiling Italian man who was standing near by. "I saw it with my own
eyes. I was not much larger then than you little girls are now."

"Oh, tell us about it, please!" begged the Sunbonnet Babies.

"Well, it was this way," said the man. "Our government spent a great
deal of money building the fine road over which you drove to-day. The
road had to be cut into the side of the mountain nearly the whole
distance along this rocky shore. A broad stone wall was built on the
side next to the water, so that carriages would not roll off. But
there are places between here and Sorrento where the mountain is so
steep the road could not be built on the outside of it. It had to be
cut through the inside of the mountain. One of those places is just
below this old monastery. You will drive through the tunnel in the
morning when you start on your journey again.

"Well," continued the little man excitedly, "probably so much cutting
away of the rock weakened a part of the mountain on which the
monastery was built. One day, when the sun was shining as lovely as it
is now, we heard a great ripping and splitting noise. It seemed like
an earthquake. But no, it was not an earthquake! It was a piece
of the mountain falling into the water below, carrying a small end of
the monastery with it. Oh, it was terrible! I can never, never forget
it!"

[Illustration: _"I'm not sure that I want to drive through those dark
tunnels"_]

"I'm sure I never could forget it, either," said Molly, who was almost
crying.

"And I'm not sure that I want to drive through those dark tunnels
to-morrow," said May.

"Well, let us explore the old monastery now," said their father. "Then
we will have our supper. Perhaps we shall find a few monks still
living here in some quiet corner."

Before they went to bed that night the Sunbonnet Babies stood a long
time at their open window. A full moon hung high in the sky, making
the silvery blue water of the gulf shimmer like a fairy sea. The
little whitewashed houses of the village clung to the side of the dark
mountain as if they feared some evil fairy might push them down into
the water.

Suddenly out of the evening silence came the sound of music. Far below
their window the Sunbonnet Babies could see a young singer with his
mandolin. His clear, high voice gave the lovely Italian song a strange
beauty on the evening air.

"Is it fairyland, or is it heaven?" Molly whispered.

"Or are we just dreaming?" asked May, as they crept into the little
white beds that were waiting for them.

[Illustration: Pirates]

[Illustration]




PIRATES


Next morning Molly and May were awake early, watching the busy boats
come home after a long night of fishing out on the deep sea. They ran
down the many steps to the shore, where the tired fishermen were
hauling in their nets and counting their catch. The big nets were then
spread out to dry. Later in the day they would be carefully mended and
made ready for another night of fishing.

Their father told the children how Amalfi was once one of the most
important towns in Europe. It sent its ships far away, and did more
trading with distant parts of the world than was done by any other
city.

But that was eight hundred years ago. Soon Amalfi was overcome by the
people of Pisa, who were jealous of its power and trade. And two
hundred years later a terrible storm and earthquake swept away nearly
all of its fine beach and harbor, leaving only a small group of houses
clinging to the steep mountain side.

So Amalfi changed from being one of the most important towns in the
world to one of the least important, except for the beauty of its
location.

Thousands of people from all parts of the world still go to Amalfi
every year, but not to buy and sell. They go to enjoy the wonderful
sunshine and water and mountains which make this part of Italy one of
the loveliest spots in the world.

The Sunbonnet Babies were sorry when Pippo said they must go on with
their journey. They wanted to stay and watch the women who were
washing clothes in the river, and they wanted to follow a steep,
narrow path which led away up the mountain side. Some women and girls
were coming down this path bringing large baskets of fruit on their
heads.

But Pippo told the Sunbonnet Babies that the best part of the
drive was still ahead of them. And he was right.

The road took them first through a short, dark tunnel, not far below
the monastery where they had spent the night. It then clung to the
sides of the steepest mountains the children had ever seen. Wonderful
stone bridges led across deep gorges, and dark tunnels took them
inside the mountains.

On one of the bridges which crossed a great crack in the mountain side
the Sunbonnet Babies begged to get out of the carriage.

"Very well," said Pippo. "You will see an interesting old fishing
village in that gorge."

"What! A fishing village in that dark place, Pippo?" exclaimed May.

"Yes," said Pippo, "but only a few fishermen live there now. Their
houses are really only caves in the mountain wall."

"It looks as if pirates might live there," said Molly.

"Do you suppose they will come out and steal us if we take a picture
of their gorge? I am going to try it anyway."

[Illustration: _"It looks as if pirates might live there," said
Molly_]

"You need not be afraid," said Pippo. "There are no pirates here now;
but once upon a time they probably did live here. The gorge was a fine
place to hide in before this road was built."

It was hardly twenty miles from Amalfi to Sorrento, but it took four
hours to drive there. The road finally left the shore and climbed up
over the green hills that separate the Gulf of Salerno from the Bay of
Naples. It led through large vineyards and through groves of orange
and lemon and olive trees, until at last it reached the beautiful
town of Sorrento. But Pippo did not stop his horses until he had taken
his party to the prettiest and quaintest little whitewashed hotel in
the town.

The nicest thing about the hotel was its garden. It seemed as if all
the fruits and flowers Molly and May had ever heard of were growing in
this garden.

The owner of the hotel peeped under the big sunbonnets and said,
"Well! well! I think you belong in my garden. Run out and pick all the
oranges and all the roses you want. Find the prettiest spot in the
whole garden, and a little round table shall be set there with a tea
party on it for the two sweetest little girls in Italy."

Such a wonderful time as the Sunbonnet Babies had during the rest of
that sunny afternoon. They skipped along the shaded walks. They picked
handfuls of lovely flowers. They filled their skirts with the ripest
and biggest oranges, then they sat down on a low marble bench and
sucked out the sweet juice.

The place which they chose for the tea party was 'way at the end of
the garden where they could look out over the lovely Bay of
Naples. As they peeped through the high iron fence they looked
straight down, at least a hundred and fifty feet, to the blue water
softly washing the rocky shore below.

[Illustration: _They could look out over the lovely Bay of Naples_]

A delicious supper for two was set on a small, round table. Then Molly
served May to chicken and rice, and May served Molly to cakes and ice.

When they went to bed that night they both agreed that it had been the
happiest day of the whole journey. But the next day brought new
surprises of which they hadn't yet dreamed.

First they explored the lovely old town of Sorrento, and decided this
was the place where they wanted to live always. Only the promise of a
ride on the wonderful blue water of the bay made them willing to leave
Sorrento even for a little while.

"How shall we get down to the water's edge?" Molly asked, as they
stood by the iron fence looking down at the blue water so far below
them.

"I will show you the way," said a brown-eyed Italian boy. "Come with
me."

He then led them to a hole in the ground and down some steep, winding
steps. When they reached the bottom of the steps they were in a great
cave close by the water's edge. Several rowboats were lying in the
cave, and two small, dark-eyed men were standing near by.

Molly was sure this was a real pirates' cave. When one of the
dark-eyed men put her mother into his boat and pushed it off into the
water, she burst into tears.

[Illustration: _She ran toward the pirate, stamping her feet_]

"O father!" she cried. "They are carrying mother off in that boat!
They must not! They shall not!"

She ran toward the pirate, stamping her feet very hard and commanding
him to take her mother out of his boat. She was not crying now. She
was very brave. She would save her mother and all the rest of her
family from the dreadful pirates.

As the small, dark man looked at her, a smile came into his brown
eyes. Then he threw back his head and laughed a loud, merry
laugh.

"I really am not so bad a pirate as you think I am, little girl," he
said, after a moment. "I have lived five years in your America, but I
wanted to come back to my sunny Italy. I like the way you take care of
your mother. I believe you are brave enough to stop a big ship out
there on the bay and climb aboard her, just as a real pirate might
do."

"Oh, no, I am not!" said Molly. "I am sure I am not!"

"Well, let's try it," said the man. "Your father and mother are
willing. I am sure you will not object, if your little sister does
not."

Now, May was clinging to her father's hand, looking very frightened
indeed.

"If you are really a _good_ pirate," said Molly at last, "and if you
will not let anything happen to us, we will go with you. But you must
take good care of my mother."

"I promise you I will," said the man. "But remember, you must be as
brave as pirates and do as I tell you. I am the captain, you know."

[Illustration: _The waves were really quite high for so small a boat_]

So they obeyed their captain and got into his boat. The two men then
pushed the boat out of the cave, pulling hard on the long oars.

The waves were really quite high for so small a boat to ride over. But
Molly and May sat very still, wondering if they really could be as
brave as pirates. They were thinking so hard they did not see a small
steamer coming down the bay, until it was quite close to them. Then
Molly said excitedly, "O Captain! Captain! Is that the ship that I
must stop?"

[Illustration: _Molly stood bravely waving her handkerchief_]

"That's the ship," answered the captain. "You must stand right up here
in the bow of our boat and wave your handkerchief hard. When the
captain of that ship sees you, he will know you are commanding him to
stop his boat."

"But will he really stop it?" asked May.

"He wouldn't dare not to stop it," answered the pirate captain. "He
knows me, and when I tell him to stop, he stops."

"How exciting!" cried Molly, as she stood in the bow of the boat
waving her handkerchief.

"He is doing it! He is stopping his ship!" cried May.

"Of course he is," said her captain. "Now we must row our boat close
up to the big one, and you must all climb aboard her."

"Oh, we can never climb up over the side of that big ship!" exclaimed
May. "See how our boat is tossing about. We shall be drowned!"

"Tut! tut! You must be as brave as your little sister," said her
captain.

"I will try to be brave," said May. And, as their small boat tossed up
and down on the rough water close beside the taller ship, she was very
brave.

The sailors quickly opened a gate on the deck and pushed out a short
gangplank. Two sailors then ran down to the end of the plank and held
out their arms to catch the little pirates as they climbed aboard the
ship.

Molly and May never knew just how it was done, but in some way their
captain swung them from his small boat up onto the gangplank of the
big boat, and the sailors held them fast. Their father and mother came
up safely, too, and even their traveling bags were put onto the
steamer. They were hardly aboard, however, when the ship began to
move. The Sunbonnet Babies looked quickly over the deck rail to see
why their pirate friends were not with them.

"They have left us!" exclaimed May. "They are rowing back to their
cave again!"

Sure enough, the two men were pulling rapidly away from the big boat
toward the shore. When they saw the Sunbonnet Babies waving to them,
they smilingly took off their caps and called "Addio, little pirates!
Be brave and have a happy time."

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The Humpbacked Island]

[Illustration]




THE HUMPBACKED ISLAND


"Where are we going, father?" demanded Molly, as the boat which they
had just come aboard sailed slowly out toward the open sea.

"And why did we climb onto this steamer 'way out here in the deep
water?" asked May.

"Oh, this is part of the surprise for to-day," answered their father.
"Don't you like it?"

"Of course we like it," said Molly. "I even like those pirates, though
I am glad they have gone back to their cave. But please tell us where
we are going, father."

"Well, we are bound for the island of Capri, away off in the distance.
It is about seven miles from here."

"But why didn't this boat come to the shore and get us?" asked May
again.

"Just because the water close to the shore is not deep enough for so
large a boat to sail on," said her father.

"Did those men know you wanted to go on this steamer?"

"Yes," answered her father. "It is their business to bring out in
their boats people who want to go to Capri."

"Then they really are not pirates at all," said Molly in a
disappointed voice.

"No, I am afraid not," answered her father. "But they have helped you
to play a real pirate's trick. How did you like it?"

So they talked and asked questions as they sailed on over the clear,
blue water, until the sun dropped suddenly behind the rim of the
humpbacked island. Then beautiful rainbow colors were poured out over
the sky and the sea and the island. But soon the rose and golden tints
changed to silver and violet, and the rocky old island looked like a
great purple camel with a double hump on its back, kneeling in a sea
of shimmering blue and lavender.

Between the humps nestled the pretty village of old Capri,
surrounded by lemon groves and vineyards. High up on one of the humps
clung the little village of Anacapri, and close down by the water's
edge snuggled a few pink and white and blue houses waiting to welcome
travelers who might come to their shore.

It would be hard to tell all that Molly and May did and all that they
saw during four happy days on the island. The people of Capri seem to
live out of doors, for the warm sunshine and fresh breezes make summer
and winter much alike there.

Some of the streets of the little old town are no wider than American
sidewalks, and most of those that lead uphill have steps in them. Long
ago, when these streets were built, there were no horses and carriages
on the island. People carried their heavy loads on their heads, or on
the backs of faithful donkeys.

Donkeys can climb stairs almost as well as men, so they are still used
a great deal on this mountainous little island, for there are only two
or three roads that horses and carriages can go over.

[Illustration: _"Would the little girls like to ride on our
donkeys?"_]

As the Sunbonnet Babies took their first walk through the narrow
streets, they met a boy and girl coming down the hill on two small
donkeys. The boy sprang quickly to the ground. He lifted his cap and
said in polite Italian, with much motioning of his hands, "Buon
giorno, signore. Would the little girls like to ride on our donkeys?"

"Oh, thank you! Of course we should like to ride," answered Molly very
quickly.

"Please may we both ride?" asked May.

"Yes, indeed!" said the little Italian girl, jumping lightly from her
donkey. "We will take you over our whole island if you would like to
go with us."

"Goody!" exclaimed May. "Please take us first very, very high up where
we can look 'way off over the blue sea toward America."

"We will take you up the long stairs to Anacapri," said the boy. "I
will get a carriage for your father and mother, and they can drive up
over the fine new road."

The Sunbonnet Babies did not understand all the boy's strange words,
but they understood some of them, and they each understood the others'
motion language. In a few moments Molly was proudly seated on one of
the small donkeys and May on the other. Giorgio and Luisa, the
friendly Italian boy and girl, followed close behind them, while the
children's parents rode comfortably along in a low carriage.

They had gone only a short distance, however, when the two donkeys
left the smooth road and began to climb some steps cut into the steep
hillside. Giorgio and Luisa gave the donkeys each a sound slap to
keep them from turning back, for donkeys are lazy animals.

[Illustration: _The donkeys began to climb some steps cut in the
hillside_]

Before the Sunbonnet Babies really knew what was happening, their
father and mother were nearly out of sight around a bend in the road,
quite far below the steps up which the donkeys were climbing.

"Father! Father! Where are you going?" called May.

"We are going to the same place you are. We are going to Anacapri,"
her father shouted back. "Let us see who will get there first.
Giorgio knows the way."

"They are going the long and easy way, while we are going the short
and steep way," Giorgio said, with much motioning. "If these donkeys
are not too lazy, we shall be there first," and he gave them each
another quick rap on their backs with his hand.

"You should not strike your donkeys, Giorgio," Molly said. "We can
make them go without your help."

"All right," said Giorgio, laughing. "You may try it, but you will
never reach Anacapri."

"Oh, yes, we shall!" answered Molly. "Just watch us. Come on, May!"

Then they each pulled quickly on the short reins, but the donkeys did
not stir. They patted the donkeys' necks and urged them to go on, just
as they did with their ponies at home, but the donkeys only turned
their heads and looked with sleepy eyes at their strange little
riders. May's donkey even began to nibble the grass at the side of the
path. It acted as if it had no thought of going up the hill, while
Molly's donkey winked its eyes and stood very still, in spite of
all her efforts to make it move.

[Illustration: _May's donkey began to nibble the grass at the side of
the path_]

"O Giorgio!" she cried at last. "What are we going to do? I never saw
such stupid animals. We shall never reach Anacapri. Father and mother
will think we are lost."

Giorgio and Luisa wanted very much to laugh at their anxious little
riders, but they were too polite to do so.

"You see," Giorgio said, "our donkeys do not like strange ways. They
do not like to have anyone but Luisa and me drive them. They
understand what we mean, and our blows do not hurt them."

"Then please drive them now," said May. "I don't want to sit here any
longer."

So Giorgio and Luisa gave the donkeys each a sound slap on their
backs, which made them swing their tails and start on up the long
steps. The donkeys stopped often to rest, but they were reminded each
time that their young master and mistress were close behind them.

At last they reached the top of the steps, and Giorgio and Luisa drove
the donkeys to a lovely garden where small tables were set under the
green trees.

"What a lovely place for a tea party!" exclaimed May. "Let's have one
ready for father and mother when they come."

"Yes, let's have it at this table close by the wall, where we can look
down and see the lovely water. My! It must be 'most a thousand feet
'way down there! See how tiny those boats look, and what a wonderful
color the water is! It looks as if an artist had painted it that way."

[Illustration: _"What a lovely place for a tea party!"_]

"Let's plan our tea party before mother gets here," said May. "What
fun it will be to surprise her!"

So they asked the waiter to please bring some grape juice, with bread
and butter and little cakes, enough for six people, for Giorgio and
Luisa were to share the party with them.

The carriage soon drew up to the garden gate, and the Sunbonnet Babies
ran to meet it, calling: "Hello! hello! See, we are here first! Our
donkeys were so funny climbing up the long stairs. They almost
went to sleep, but Giorgio and Luisa kept them moving. We are going to
have a tea party now. Come quickly, and look over the garden wall. We
never, never were so high up above the water before!"

[Illustration: _A young Italian boy and girl began to dance_]

As they were drinking their grape juice, a young Italian boy and girl
ran into the garden and began to dance. Their mother made music for
them on an instrument that looked like the head of a small drum, with
little bells fastened all around it. She tapped the instrument
sharply with her fingers and jingled the little bells.

The dancers were dressed in gay, pretty costumes. They seemed to be
telling each other a happy love story by motions, glances, and
graceful dancing. It was the famous tarantella dance which the people
of Southern Italy love so much.

When the dancers had finished their story, Molly and May gave them
each some grape juice and little cakes. Then they rode back down the
hill on their two sleepy donkeys.

The next day the Sunbonnet Babies were given a wonderful boat ride all
the way around the island of Capri. In many places the shore rose from
the blue water very steep and high. Gay-colored jellyfish floated
about, and little forests of red coral clung to the rocky wall just
below the water's edge.

When they had sailed nearly around the island, their steamer stopped
quite suddenly, and they were told they must all get into some small
rowboats that were waiting near by.

"What is the trouble?" asked May excitedly. "Is our boat sinking?
Have these men come to rescue us, father? The shore is much too steep
for us to land here, isn't it?"

[Illustration: "_There is a man who wants to take us in his boat_"]

"Oh, no!" said her father. "Our boat is not sinking, but we are going
to take a look at the inside of the island. The Overall Boys saw the
inside of a glacier up in Switzerland, you know."

"Oh, goody!" exclaimed Molly. "See, there is a man who wants to take
us in his boat. Please, can't we hurry?"

[Illustration: _They had to keep their heads low to slip through the
opening_]

A few moments later they were being rowed straight toward a low hole
in the steep shore. The hole was not more than three feet high and
three feet wide above the surface of the water. It led into a narrow
passage about fifteen feet long, which was just large enough for a
rowboat to slip through if heads were kept very low.

"Oh, my! Where are we going?" whispered May, as she lay very still in
the bottom of the boat. "This is more dangerous than going inside
of a glacier. I know it is! I wish the Overall Boys were here!"

"Heads up!" called the boatman. "You are now in the beautiful Blue
Grotto, the most wonderful chamber in Italy."

The next few moments no one spoke. The Sunbonnet Babies were sure they
were dreaming, or that they had fallen asleep while lying in the
bottom of the boat and had wakened in the land of the water nymphs.

Molly peeped gently over the edge of the boat, hoping to see a pretty
nymph swimming about in the wonderful greenish-blue water. Just then a
slender figure sprang from a narrow ledge at the farther side of the
cave.

"Look, Molly!" whispered May. "It _is_ a nymph--a really, truly nymph!
It has gone way down under the water. The water is so clear and light
we can see everything in it. It looks as deep as the sky."

"See, the nymph is coming up now!" said Molly eagerly. "What a
beautiful color it is! It is diving and splashing and playing, just
like a real boy."

[Illustration: "_Look! It is a nymph!_"]

"And it is a real boy," said their father. "He is showing you the
wonderful light and color in the water."

"Oh! Would I look as beautiful as that if I should swim in this
water?" Molly asked eagerly.

"And would I?" cried May.

"Put your hand into the water and see," her father answered.

In a moment four little hands were splashing in the clear water. They
were no longer the rosy hands of Molly and May. They looked like
white marble hands, softly tinted with blue. The drops of water that
fell from their fingers were like strings of lovely opals and
sapphires. The children wanted to catch some of the drops to carry
home, but the boat-man said they would look just like any other water
drops out in the sunshine.

[Illustration: _The drops of water were like strings of lovely opals_]

"But what makes them look so strange and lovely in this grotto?" asked
Molly.

"Perhaps because most of the light that comes into the grotto
shines through the water," said her father. "In some way the red and
orange and yellow rays of the sunlight have been lost, but the blue
and green and violet rays seem to be all here. So everything looks
cool and blue instead of warm and rosy, as it does just outside."

"How was such a great cave ever made under this island?" asked May.
"Did the Italians make it?"

"No, indeed!" answered the boatman. "The sea made it ages and ages
ago. This cave used to be a resort for the Roman emperors and their
friends two thousand years ago. One emperor about that time built
wonderful palaces on the island, and on hot summer days he and his
friends would come down into this cool grotto to swim and to rest.
Since then the island has sunk a little, so the water in the grotto is
higher than it used to be. But even now the walls of the cave are
forty feet high and a hundred and seventy feet long. It is almost as
large as a good-sized church, you see."

"But the door is only three feet high," said Molly. "What would happen
if a big storm came up while we were in here?"

"We couldn't get out," said the boatman. "Boats are not allowed to
come into the grotto unless the sea is perfectly quiet. When it is
rough it is very dangerous to be in here. We are allowed to stay only
fifteen minutes, and our time is up now."

So they tossed a shining silver piece to the little boy who had made
them think he was a really, truly water nymph, and their boats slipped
quickly through the narrow passage back into the bright Italian
sunshine.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: In the City of Rome]

[Illustration]




IN THE CITY OF ROME


"I feel as if vacation time were over," said Molly, a few days later,
as she looked from their window out upon a busy street in Rome. "I
should much rather play in the orange garden at Sorrento or climb over
the island of Capri with Giorgio and Luisa than to see Rome."

"So should I!" said May. "I am sure there can't be any more surprises
as nice as the ones we have had."

"Oh, yes, there can be!" said their father, who overheard what his
Sunbonnet Babies were talking about. "There is one big surprise
coming, which I believe you will think is even nicer than Sorrento or
Capri."

"O father! Is it here in Rome?" asked May.

"No," answered her father. "Not the surprise I am thinking about,
though there are many nice ones here. We can drive about the city a
little now, and see what it looks like."

"That will be fun," said Molly. "I hope the streets will not be so
noisy and dirty as they were in Naples."

They were soon driving through broad streets and narrow streets,
through streets where electric cars were speeding along, through old,
old streets, and through big beautiful squares. It seemed as if they
passed more great stone churches and handsome fountains than they had
seen in all their lives before.

Their driver stopped his carriage near one of the largest of the
fountains and said they should each throw a penny into the basin of
water and take a drink from it before leaving Rome. Then they would
surely visit the city again, for the legend says:

    Cast your obulus in Trevi's fountain,
      Drink and, returning home,
    Pray that by stream or desert, vale or mountain,
      All roads may lead to Rome.

"I am not sure yet that I want to come to Rome again," said
Molly. "I think I will not throw my penny into the fountain until the
last day I am here."

"I will show you something that will make you want to come again,"
said the driver. "I know what the Americans like."

He then drove them through more narrow streets, until they came to a
large square with a fountain in the center of it. This fountain looked
like an old Roman war vessel.

Already the Sunbonnet Babies had learned that in Italy a public square
is called a _piazza_, and their driver told them that this square was
the Spanish Piazza.

"It should be called the Flower Piazza!" exclaimed May. "It looks like
a big flower market. May we buy some of those lovely cherry blossoms?"

"Yes, indeed! Buy all you want," said their driver. "This is only one
of our flower markets. There are many others in the city."

"Why are the people waiting on those great stone steps?" asked Molly.
"And why do they wear such odd, pretty clothes?"

[Illustration: "_It should be called the Flower Piazza!_"]

"Those people are models for artists," answered their driver. "Many of
them live in the country and come into the city every pleasant
morning. They wait on these steps, hoping artists may come and ask
them to pose for their pictures. They are dressed in the old Roman
costumes."

"I like their costumes," said May. "I wish your people would all dress
that way. How nice that little girl looks with her bright-colored
apron and red coral beads. She is barefooted and bareheaded, too."

[Illustration: "_Isn't she lovely?_"]

"See, she is running down the steps with a tall jar on her head. Isn't
she lovely? I wonder if she will let us take her picture."

"I will ask her," said May. "Do you suppose that woman is her mother?
She is knitting with long, crooked needles. Her cap looks like a white
handkerchief laid over her black hair. Perhaps they think father and
mother are artists who want to paint them in a picture."

"I will tell them that my little daughters are the artists," said the
Sunbonnet Babies' father. "It does not take you so long to make a
picture as it does most artists, so I think they will be glad to pose
for you."

And they were. When the camera had been snapped, Molly and May each
gave the little girl a _soldo_ and said they hoped a real artist would
paint a beautiful picture of her soon.

"I should much rather see the picture you have just taken in your
queer, black box," said the little Italian girl.

"Would you really like to have us send it to you when it is finished?"
asked Molly.

"Oh, yes, thank you! I would take it home to _il padre_ and show him
what happens when I come to the big city."

"Where do you live?? asked the Sunbonnet Babies' father.

"We live in the country, two miles beyond the city walls. We go out
through St. Paul's Gate. My father has a little farm out there."

"May we drive out to see you some day?" asked the Sunbonnet Babies'
father again.

"We should be proud to have you do so, sir," answered the little
girl's mother politely.

"We will come next Friday afternoon, if you will be at home that day."

"And we will bring the picture we have just taken," Molly said to her
smiling little friend.

"Please tell us what your name is," said May.

"My name is Maria," answered the little girl brightly.

"Why, that is the Italian name for Mary, isn't it? My name is May."

"Addio, Maria! Here are some cherry blossoms for you, and here is a
bunch of kisses. Addio!"

Then they drove away, blowing kisses from the tips of their small
fingers to the lovely little model standing on the Spanish Flower
Steps.

Soon they came to a handsome bridge which crossed the river Tiber.
Their driver said this bridge was built by the famous Emperor Hadrian
in the year 136. At the end of the bridge was a great round castle,
which was also built by Emperor Hadrian, as a burial tomb for himself.

Three hundred years ago ten large stone angels were placed on each
side of the long bridge, and another angel was put high on top of the
round castle. Since then Hadrian's Tomb is often called the
Castle of the Holy Angels, and the bridge is called the Bridge of the
Holy Angels.

[Illustration: _The Bridge of the Holy Angels_]

As Molly and May drove slowly across this fine old bridge between the
two rows of angels, they felt very small and very young indeed.

"I wonder if any of the bridges in America will last eighteen hundred
years," Molly said thoughtfully. "And what do you suppose the boys and
girls were like in those days?"

"I believe they were very much like the Roman children to-day," said
her father. "And I am sure those old Roman men must have been
very wise to build such fine bridges as this one. In a few moments we
shall see the largest church in all the world."

"Why, I thought the largest buildings were all in America," said May.

"The largest and tallest business buildings are there," said her
father, "but not the largest churches. Half a dozen of the big
churches in New York City could be set down right inside the Cathedral
of St. Peter's, and forty thousand people can walk about in the
Cathedral and not be crowded at all."

"Oh, dear! We shall get lost in such a big place!" exclaimed May.

But when they were once inside the great cathedral, it did not seem so
large as they had expected. Not until they had walked around one of
the great pillars which support the high dome did they realize how
very, very large the cathedral was. They had to take as many steps in
walking around that one pillar as they would have taken in walking
around their own home in America. And there were four of these
great pillars, besides many smaller ones. On some of the pillars there
were marble figures of babies as large as men, and figures of men as
large as giants, while each of the many chapels along the two sides of
the cathedral were the size of small churches.

"Is this great church named for St. Peter whom we read about in the
Bible?" asked Molly.

"Yes," answered her father. "And he is supposed to be buried under
this beautiful altar. See, there is an old bronze statue of him on the
side of that pillar."

"And look! A woman is lifting up her baby to kiss the foot of the
statue!" exclaimed May. "Why is she doing that, father?"

"She wants to show her honor and love for St. Peter. And she wants to
teach her child to honor him, too," said her father. "One of the great
bronze toes is nearly worn away, so many people have kissed it. Now
are you ready to do something almost as hard as climbing a mountain?"

"Of course we are! We are ready for anything. What is it, father?"

"Follow me and you will soon find out."

Then they all passed through a small door on one side of the great
church and began to go up some broad, winding stairs. They climbed up
and up and up, until it seemed as if they could not climb any higher.

"Would you rather have come up these stairs on a donkey?" asked their
father at last.

"Oh, dear! I don't know," said Molly, laughing. "I guess the Capri
donkeys could come up here all right, but I think I'd rather be on my
own feet. A donkey might get tired and lie down, or turn around and go
back."

"Well, here is a resting place for us," said her father. "We have
climbed as far as the base of the great dome. We can walk around the
gallery now and look down into the church where we stood only a little
while ago."

"How tiny the people look 'way down there! And how high the great dome
still is above us!" exclaimed May.

"It is more than two hundred feet from this gallery to the top of the
dome," said her father. "Shall we climb up there?"

[Illustration: _He carried his little girls by turns_]

"Yes, indeed!" said Molly, who had courage for anything.

Their father did not want the little legs to grow too tired with the
long climb, so he carried his two little Sunbonnet Babies by turns up
the last part of the steep, winding stairs, until they stood on a
small open gallery above the great dome.

The whole city of Rome lay spread out before them like a great map.
They could see the new city with its fine buildings, and the older
city with its narrow streets and crowded houses, and the still
older, dead city, which had lain buried many centuries and now looked
very much like old Pompeii.

[Illustration: _The whole city of Rome lay spread out before them_]

There was the river Tiber with its muddy water flowing lazily along
between the crowded houses. And not far away was the Tomb of Hadrian
and the handsome Bridge of the Holy Angels. Their father pointed out
parts of the ancient stone wall which once surrounded the whole of old
Rome, and St. Paul's Gate, through which Maria said they must
drive in going to visit her father's farm.

Beyond the old city wall they could see miles and miles of level farms
and pastures, and away in the distance rose a line of dark mountains
against a blue sky. It was a big and wonderful view, but Molly and May
soon became more interested in what they saw on the great, flat roof
of the cathedral just below them.

"It looks like a little village down there," said May. "Is it really
the roof of the cathedral?"

"It really is," answered her father. "Those men are busy repairing
different parts of the cathedral and the great palace buildings. They
say there are eleven hundred rooms in that palace. There are art
galleries and museums and chapels in it, and it is also the home of
the Pope, who is the head of the Catholic Church. We must visit the
art galleries some day. There are many beautiful things in them."

"Look, father!" cried May at last. "How dark the sky is growing! It is
going to rain."

"I am afraid it is," said her father. "We must leave this hilltop and
hurry to our hotel."

A few moments later they were out on the beautiful piazza in front of
the cathedral. It had already begun to sprinkle, but they found a
carriage and driver waiting to take them wherever they wanted to go.

"I am sure it will rain hard before we can reach the hotel," said
their mother. "How would you like to drive to a restaurant near by and
have one of our nice tea parties?"

"Oh, we should love it!" exclaimed Molly and May. "It is hungry work
to climb so high."

After a tea party of hot chocolate and bread and butter, they were
rested once more. The shower had passed, and they had a wonderful time
buying Roman beads and sashes and hair ribbons in the gay little shops
along the busy street.

[Illustration: The Story of the Twins]

[Illustration]




THE STORY OF THE TWINS


"Shall we visit the very oldest part of the city to-day?" asked the
Sunbonnet Babies' father one morning.

"Oh, dear! I am tired of old things," said May. "I should much rather
ride in the park and hear the band play, as we did yesterday."

"Don't you like to hear old stories?" asked her father.

"Why, yes! I always like stories, you know."

"Well, wouldn't you like to hear an old story about some twin boys?
And while I tell the story, wouldn't you like to sit near the place
where the boys were supposed to have grown up?"

"Yes, of course we should!" exclaimed Molly. "I like old things,
father. You tell such interesting stories about them."

Half an hour later they were walking slowly about the old Roman Forum
looking at ruins of beautiful buildings and temples which had once
been the center of the busy city. In one of the narrow streets they
saw some large squares and circles made in the pavement, on which the
men and boys used to play their games.

[Illustration]

They saw, too, the great open-air theater, or Colosseum, in which the
old Romans held their famous sports. Sometimes the sports were very
wicked and cruel. The Colosseum was built in the shape of a huge
circle without a roof. It once seated eighty-seven thousand people
around its high sides, leaving a large open space in the center for
the games.

Then they saw beautiful great arches, built in honor of old emperors,
and tall marble columns which were once a part of lovely temples. But
these things were all so broken and ruined the Sunbonnet Babies soon
grew tired of looking at them.

[Illustration: _They saw beautiful arches and tall marble columns_]

"When are you going to tell us the story, father?" asked May at last.

"Well, let us have it now," answered her father. "Let us sit down on
this old stone block right where we can look at the hill over yonder.
The present city of Rome is built on seven hills. Our story tells how
the city was first started on that hill and how the first wall was
built around it."

"Is the story really true, father?" asked May.

"People used to think it was true, but it happened such a long time
ago we cannot be sure about it. Even if it is not true, it is a good
story about twin brothers who were said to have lived nearly three
thousand years ago. The father of the boys was supposed to have been
the young god Mars, and their mother was a beautiful maiden called
Sylvia.

"It was Sylvia's work to care for the sacred fire in the temple of the
goddess Vesta. Such maidens were treated with great honor, but they
were not allowed to marry. So the people were very angry when Sylvia
said the great god Mars was her husband and the two baby boys were her
own little children. As a punishment the young mother was buried
alive, and her helpless babies were put into a wooden trough, which
was set afloat on the river Tiber.

"Now it happened just at that time that the river overflowed its
banks. But very soon the water went down, and the little trough in
which the twin babies lay was left safely on high ground. Of course
the babies became very hungry and probably cried loudly for their
mother to come and feed them. But the poor mother could not come,
though another mother did. She was a mother wolf, and she carried the
hungry babies away to her lair, where she tenderly nursed and cared
for them.

[Illustration: _The little trough in which the babies lay was left
safely on high ground_]

"Some time later a shepherd found the baby boys living in the woods
with their wolf mother. He was a kind man, and he took the children
home to his wife. She named the boys Romulus and Remus, and brought
them up to be shepherds like her husband.

"When the twin brothers grew to be young men, trouble arose between
the shepherds belonging to their mother's father, who should have been
king of the country, and the shepherds of the wrongful ruler. Romulus
and Remus did many brave things of which their grandfather heard, and
one day he asked to have them brought before him. He then discovered
that they were the twin sons of his beautiful daughter Sylvia.

"The proud young men gathered an army together at once and seized the
country in the name of their grandfather, the rightful king. They then
decided to build a city, but they could not agree upon a place for it.
Romulus wished to build it on one of the seven low hills in that
region, while Remus wished to build it on another. Finally they went
to their grandfather for advice, and he told them to watch for a sign
from the gods. So Romulus stood on the hill which he had chosen and
Remus stood on his hill, both watching for some sign to show them the
right spot on which to build their city.

[Illustration: _Remus saw six vultures flying over his head_]

"At last Remus saw six vultures flying over his head, but shortly
afterward Romulus saw twelve vultures. The people took this to be a
sign that the gods preferred the choice of Romulus, so they made him
their king.

"Romulus began at once to build the walls of his new capital. He
harnessed a heifer and a bull to a plow, and between the rising and
going down of the sun he plowed a furrow in the shape of a square
around the top of his hill. On this furrow he built the wall of his
city.

"Remus had seen the birds first and he felt that he should be the
founder of the city. One day, as he stood watching the building of the
new wall, he laughed at it scornfully and leaped over it. Romulus was
deeply hurt, and he killed his brother on the spot, crying, 'So may
all perish who cross this wall!'

"Romulus named his city _Rome_, and he and his shepherds lived in
thatch-roofed mud houses within the protection of its walls.

"The story says this was the real beginning of the wonderful city of
Rome. The hill which Romulus chose was the one right over there. It is
called the Palatine Hill. The old Roman emperors lived on it for many
centuries. The ruins of their walls and great palaces can still be
seen," said the Sunbonnet Babies' father, as he finished his story.

"I wonder if it was there that the mother wolf took care of Romulus
and Remus," said Molly. "If so, I think Romulus was right in wanting
to build his city on the same spot."

"Rome is now so large it covers all of the seven hills, as well as the
land between them," said her father. "Our hotel is on one of the
hills, and the park where we drove yesterday is on another. Who wants
to drive in the park again to-day?"

"I do!" and "I do!" and "I do!" cried Molly and May and their mother.

"Please may we drive first through the Spanish Piazza and buy some
more flowers?" begged May. "Perhaps we may find Maria on the big
steps. If she is there, father, may we ask her to drive in the park
with us?"

"Yes, indeed!" answered her father. "We may meet the king and queen in
the park. They drive there nearly every day."

"Oh! oh!" exclaimed May. "Let's buy the loveliest roses we can find
and toss them into the king's carriage."

[Illustration: Travel Adventures]

[Illustration]




TRAVEL ADVENTURES


The next few days were spent in traveling northward, sometimes by
train, sometimes by automobile, and sometimes behind two small Italian
horses.

Each night the Sunbonnet Babies slept in some quaint little town near
a great old church or castle built hundreds of years ago.

Some of the towns stood on steep, rocky hills and were surrounded by
strong, stone walls. There was always a village well within the walls,
where the women and girls filled their graceful jugs with water every
morning.

During spring and summer the men and women in these hillside towns
work on their fertile little farms in the green valleys below. In the
fall the children take long trips to the woods to gather ripe
chestnuts to grind into flour, for the Italians are very fond of
chestnut cakes.

The most wonderful thing which Molly and May saw on this northward
journey was the Leaning Tower at Pisa.

[Illustration]

For seven hundred years the beautiful white marble tower has stood
there leaning lazily over to one side. Soon after it was started, the
ground under it began to sink. The builders straightened it up as well
as they could, but when it was finished its top leaned to one side
nearly fourteen feet.

The Sunbonnet Babies were almost afraid to go up the winding stairs
inside the Leaning Tower. But at last they bravely climbed the three
hundred steps, round and round and up and up, until they reached the
top where the great bells hang.

Even though a strong railing was around the top of the tower, Molly
and May thought they would surely slip off, it leaned so far to one
side. But they soon forgot their fears.

Near by they saw the great black and white cathedral and the beautiful
round baptistry where the babies of Pisa are all baptized.

Toward the west they looked across broad, green fields to the blue sea
seven miles away. Two thousand years ago the sea was only two miles
from Pisa, but the river Arno, which flows down from the mountains,
brings with it a great deal of soil which it drops when it reaches the
sea. In this way five miles of new land have been made between Pisa
and the sea.

There was not much except the Leaning Tower in the now quiet little
city of Pisa to interest the Sunbonnet Babies, so they followed the
river Arno up toward the mountains as far as the beautiful city of
Florence.

It was Maytime, and there were roses everywhere--roses to sell and
roses to give away. For the first time in their short lives Molly and
May had all the roses they wanted.

[Illustration: "_Will you please let me sell your roses for you?_"]

"No wonder Florence is called the City of Flowers," said their mother
one morning, as they visited the big flower market.

"Yes, everybody seems to be buying or selling flowers. Isn't it
lovely?" cried Molly.

Then, before her parents knew what she was doing, Molly ran up to a
small boy who was carrying two baskets of beautiful roses on a wooden
yoke across his shoulders.

"O little boy!" she said. "Will you please let me sell your roses for
you? I will give you all the money I make. I should love to sell
them!"

"And so should I!" cried May. "Father, please ask him if we may sell
his flowers for him," for the small boy could not quite understand
what the little American girls wanted.

A few words from their father, however, brought a happy smile to the
boy's face. This was enough for the Sunbonnet Babies. In a moment
Molly was standing beside one of the flower baskets and May beside the
other, with the radiant little Italian boy between them.

"Now," said Molly, "you hold the baskets while we sell the flowers. We
will sell some to our own father first. Please, sir, here is a bunch
of pink roses for you. They cost only one lira. I am sure you want
them."

Of course he did want them, and many other people wanted to buy of the
pretty little flower girls, too.

In a very few minutes the two baskets were empty, and the small boy
was hurrying away to his father's flower stand with more money in his
pocket than he had ever had before, while Molly and May found
other interesting things to do.

[Illustration: _They watched Filippo spin his tops_]

From a corner of the market place they heard some one calling, "Ecco!
Signor Filippo will now present his troup of trained tops for the
crippled soldiers."

"Oh, let's see them!" exclaimed May. "Tops are such fun, and we ought
to help the poor Italian soldiers, too."

So they watched young Filippo, who had been a soldier in the great
war, spin his wonderful tops.

They were military tops which Filippo had made himself. There was an
American soldier, an Italian soldier, a British soldier, and a French
soldier. Then there was a Red Cross nurse and a jolly sailor boy. But
prettiest of all was a dainty little girl with butterfly skirts,
dancing gracefully about among the stiff soldiers.

It was really wonderful, the way Filippo kept the tops spinning. Molly
and May paid him a whole lira for the fun they had in watching them.

As they were about to leave the market place they heard a clear,
beautiful whistle which made them stop and listen.

[Illustration]

"It is my blackbird, signorine," called a little boy. "See, he is here
in this cage. I caught him in the field and taught him how to whistle.
Now he can whistle better than any other blackbird in Florence. Would
you like to buy him?"

"Why, yes, of course we should! But we cannot take care of a bird
while we are traveling. He will be happier with you. We will give you
some pennies to buy food for him." So they dropped two big
Italian pennies into the little boy's hat, while he bowed very
politely.

[Illustration]

One whole lovely afternoon was spent in motoring over the hills beyond
the city of Florence. They saw groves of olive trees that were
hundreds and hundreds of years old, and large vineyards where purple
grapes were growing.

On a hilly road beyond a small village they passed two women who were
bringing down from the woods great bundles of fagots on the backs of
small donkeys. They would burn these fagots in their fireplace stoves
at home, for wood and coal are hard to get in Italy.

Best of all the things the Sunbonnet Babies saw on this happy drive
was a rollicking brook. It came tumbling down over big stones and
under white birch trees close by the roadside. Beyond the brook
was a trim little wheat field, bright with scarlet poppies.

[Illustration: _Beyond the brook was a wheat field bright with
poppies_]

"It looks just like a brook I know in New England," said their mother.
"Let us walk a little way and find out where it comes from."

"Oh, yes! Let's walk!" cried Molly and May and their father.

So they left their car and began following the brook under the
shade of the tall trees. The children picked handfuls of scarlet
poppies and beautiful blue cornflowers. They listened to the happy
nightingales and mocking birds singing in the trees above them, and
they watched handsome great dragon flies dart along close above the
cool, splashing water.

[Illustration]

On and on they walked, until at last they came to a beautiful, quiet
spot shut in by trees and bushes, with only the brook flowing through
it.

"What a splendid place for a picnic!" cried May. "How I wish we had
something to eat!"

"I have some small cakes of sweet chocolate," said her mother.
"Perhaps a good fairy will come along and change them into strawberry
sandwiches for us. Let us sit down on the grass and see."

So they all sat down by the the brook and their mother divided the
little round cakes of chocolate among them. They each had three.

[Illustration: _"Sh-h! I believe the fairy is coming!"_]

"Sh-h! I believe the fairy is coming," whispered May. "I hear
footsteps!"

At that moment the bushes were pushed gently aside and a little,
barefooted old woman peeped smilingly through at them. A small,
brown-eyed girl was with her. She was barefooted, too, and they each
wore a wreath of grape leaves around their flying hair. The little
girl had a bunch of fresh grape leaves in her hand, and the little old
woman carried a small basket of luscious wild strawberries.

[Illustration: _The child laughed and darted into the little group_]

The child laughed and darted into the little group, laying a large
grape leaf on the lap of each of the strangers. The little old woman
followed close behind her, shaking strawberries from her basket onto
each green leaf. Then the little girl quickly laid another leaf on top
of the strawberries.

They were about to slip away into the bushes again when May called,
"Wait, wait, good fairies! Thank you for your strawberries, and please
let us give you our sweet chocolate."

The small basket was passed quickly around again and the tiny
tinsel-covered cakes were all dropped into it. Then the two little
people, with smiling lips and shining eyes, slipped away into the tall
bushes.

"Oh! oh!" whispered Molly. "Were they really, truly fairies?"

"Of course they were," answered May.

"Well," said her mother, "they brought us strawberry sandwiches,
anyway, and no one but fairies could have known how much we wanted
them."

"That is so," said Molly. "Let's call it our Fairy Tea Party. I never,
never tasted such sweet strawberries!"

The drive back to the Flower City was a quiet one. Molly and May had
so much to think about. But when the next morning came they were eager
for the new day's experience.

"What shall we do to-day, father?" asked Molly at the breakfast table.

"Well, how would you like to go shopping on an old, old bridge which
crosses the river Arno?" asked her father.

[Illustration: _The Ponte Vecchio, where the Sunbonnet Babies went
shopping_]

"Shopping on a bridge!" exclaimed both little girls. "What can we buy
on a bridge?"

"Oh, all the pretty jewelry you want," answered their father. "It is a
two-story bridge. It is called Ponte Vecchio. On each side of the
lower story is a row of small shops, most of which sell
jewelry--pretty neck chains and pins and rings. The second story is
part of a long, covered passage connecting two famous old palaces. The
passage is more than a third of a mile long. It was built for the
wedding of a prince in one of the families. The palaces are now
filled with beautiful paintings and sculpture. We must go to see them
soon."

And so several days were happily filled with shopping and driving and
seeing beautiful pictures and wonderful old churches.

They found a tall bell tower in Florence even more graceful and lovely
than the Leaning Tower at Pisa. It is called a "Lily in Stone," it is
so very beautiful. The tower has stood there beside the great
cathedral for nearly six hundred years, and it is as fresh and
beautiful now as when it was first built.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The City in the Sea]

[Illustration]




THE CITY IN THE SEA


"To-day brings the great surprise," said the Sunbonnet Babies' father
one morning. "You remember I said we should visit a place here in
Italy which you would like even better than Sorrento or Capri. We are
going to that place to-day."

"Oh, where is it?" exclaimed both little girls. "How shall we get
there? What are we going to see?"

"You must not ask so many questions. It would not be a surprise if I
should tell you all about it," said their father. "But we shall take
the train this morning, and before we go to bed to-night we shall be
there."

All day Molly and May were much excited thinking about the wonderful
surprise awaiting them. Their train carried them slowly northward
through the lovely Italian country straight toward the high mountains.

"Must we go over those mountains, father, or can we go through them?"
May asked eagerly.

"We shall do both," answered her father. "We shall go over a part of
them and we shall go through the rest. In a moment our train will
enter the first tunnel."

"Oh! Oh! We are in it now!" exclaimed Molly. "How dark it is!"

Then, almost before she knew it, they were out in the bright sunshine
again, creeping along a high bridge above a deep valley. In and out of
many tunnels they went, and across many high bridges from which they
had wonderful glimpses of the valleys and rivers below and of the
mountains towering high above them.

"Is this Switzerland, father?" Molly asked at last.

"No, indeed," answered her father. "We are crossing the Apennine
Mountains, which stretch down through Italy like the backbone of
a fish. But we shall soon be leaving the mountains behind us and shall
see the canals and the rice fields on the other side of them. Then you
may think you are in Japan."

And so they traveled northward, seeing many new and interesting
sights, until just at sunset they came to what their father called the
"Jumping-off Place."

"Close your eyes for a moment," he said. "I will tell you when to open
them."

So Molly and May closed their eyes very tightly until their father
said, "Now you may look."

"Oh! Oh! Where are we? Our train is running right on the water!"
exclaimed May as she opened her eyes.

"Why, yes! There is water on both sides of us!" cried Molly. "There is
water all around us. It looks like the sea. O father! Is there a
bridge under us? Will our train sink?"

"No, our train will not sink," answered her father, laughing. "There
is a real railroad track under us. The track is built on strong
wooden posts or piles which are sunk deep down into the ground under
the water."

[Illustration: _"Our train is running right on the water!"_]

"How far out on the water will the train go?" May asked, in a voice
just a little frightened.

"About two miles," answered her father. "We are going to the City in
the Sea."

"Oh, I know now!" cried Molly. "We are going to Venice! We are going
to Venice, May! That is the wonderful surprise. We are almost there. I
can see some of the houses now."

A few moments later their train was pulling into a busy covered
station and everybody was getting off, for no one goes beyond Venice
by train. A porter took their bags, and the Sunbonnet Babies thought
he would show them where to find a carriage or a taxi to take them to
their hotel. But no, he led them to a long line of small black boats
which were drawn up to the station platform.

"O father! Are these boats gondolas?" asked Molly excitedly. "And is
this one of the water streets you have told us about?"

"Yes," said her father, "and this man is going to take us to our hotel
in his gondola. So jump in!"

When they were all seated, an old man standing on the platform gave
their gondola a push with his long pole and they were off.

The gondolier stood in the back of his graceful boat and paddled it
lightly forward with one long oar.

Out into the sunset glow of the broad canal they slipped quietly. The
soft colors of the setting sun, caught and reflected by the shining
water, made a picture more beautiful than they had seen in any
art gallery in Italy.

[Illustration: _They glided around corners and through narrow canals_]

They glided around corners and through narrow canals, until at last
their gondolier stopped his boat close by the marble steps of a
handsome stone building.

"This is to be our home while we stay in Venice," said the Sunbonnet
Babies' father.

"Oh! I wish we could stay here always," Molly said softly.

"And so do I," whispered May.

[Illustration: _The pigeons were as tame as little chickens_]

As the days went by, Molly and May did not change their minds. Venice
was like a fairy land to them, and the hundreds of beautiful pigeons
that live about the Piazza of St. Mark were the cunningest of
playmates.

Each morning the children hurried to the piazza to help give the doves
their breakfast of corn and peas. They were as tame as little
chickens. They would coo and flutter about the Sunbonnet Babies and
eat from their hands as if they had always been friends.

[Illustration: _Sometimes a brave little pigeon would stand on one of
the sunbonnets_]

Sometimes an especially brave little pigeon would stand on one of the
pretty sunbonnets, turning his head about very proudly to be sure that
everyone was seeing him. But the pigeon was no prouder than the little
girl under the bonnet, who stood very still lest she frighten the
pretty thing away.

There are very few dogs or cats in Venice, so the pigeons have nothing
to fear. They are the pets of the whole city, and they sleep in the
prettiest places near the tops of the buildings.

[Illustration: _The great bronze horses at the Cathedral of St. Mark_]

There are only four horses in the city, too, and they are great bronze
horses two thousand years old. They have stood above the doorway of
the beautiful Cathedral of St. Mark, on one side of the piazza, more
than seven hundred years. Napoleon carried them off to Paris and
placed them on top of a fine arch there, where they stayed for
eighteen years, but at last they were returned to Venice.

During the World War these famous horses were taken down again and
hidden away in a safe place where bombs and robbers might not
touch them.

Now once more they are standing above the beautiful doorway, with the
pretty pigeons flying lovingly about them.

There were many other things on the big piazza, aside from the doves
and the horses, which interested the Sunbonnet Babies. There was a
strange old Clock Tower which has been standing there since the time
Columbus discovered America. Two big bronze men stand on top of the
tower and strike the hours on a great bell with their heavy hammers.
First one man raises his hammer and strikes the bell and then the
other man strikes it, until the right hour has been struck, from one
to twenty-four o'clock, which is midnight.

It seemed strange for Molly and May to go to bed at nineteen o'clock
instead of seven, but that was what they did in Italy, for there the
clock faces have twenty-four hours on them instead of twelve.

There is another tower on the piazza, too, much taller than the Clock
Tower. It is the Cathedral Bell Tower, and it stands nearly in
front of the beautiful cathedral.

A few years ago the tower which had stood on this spot for a thousand
years fell quite suddenly, for the bricks with which its walls were
made were turning to dust. But the Venetian people soon built a new
tower just like the old one on the same spot, and they expect it to
stand another thousand years.

Molly and May climbed to the top of this tall tower and looked out
over the wonderful city surrounded by the beautiful blue water. They
saw the green trees of the public gardens, and the orange and blue
sails of fishing boats coming slowly in, loaded with fish caught out
in the deeper sea. They tried to count the many gondolas moving
quietly through the busy canals, and they watched the tiny pigeons
fluttering about on the piazza below.

Around three sides of the piazza are handsome little shops, with a
broad covered sidewalk in front of them. Nearly everything that is
nice can be bought in these shops, from beautiful laces to delicious
ice cream.

[Illustration: _The Sunbonnet Babies often had cherry ice cream_]

The Sunbonnet Babies often begged to sit by one of the small tables on
the covered sidewalk and have some cherry ice cream while the band
played in the center of the piazza.

The Piazza of St. Mark is really a wonderful place. It is the open-air
reception room for all the Venetian people, as well as for many
strangers who come to visit their city--yes, and for hundreds of
beautiful pigeons, too.

But Molly and May loved the whole of Venice. They liked to wander
along the busy, narrow footpaths and see how the people worked
and played. They found they could walk all over the city on these
narrow streets, for there are nearly four hundred little foot-bridges
which cross the many canals. Some of the bridges have steps going up
on one side and down on the other.

The largest and finest bridge is called the Rialto Bridge. It has two
rows of small shops on it, much like the famous bridge in Florence.

Molly and May liked to go shopping on the Rialto. They always bought a
bag of big red cherries, for Italian cherries are almost better than
chocolate creams.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The Gondolier's Home]

[Illustration]




THE GONDOLIER'S HOME


Every day Antonio, their gondolier, came to take the Sunbonnet Babies
and their parents for a ride in his graceful boat.

Antonio usually wore blue trousers and a white shirt, open at the neck
and fastened with a large red tie. But some days he dressed all in
white, with a bright red sash around his waist. Then he looked very
handsome indeed.

One morning Antonio invited the Sunbonnet Babies to visit his home and
see his little girls. Antonio had lived in America seven years and
could speak English quite well.

"My little girls want to see you very much," he said. "I have told
them all about your pretty blue eyes and your big sunbonnets. Will you
come with me to-day?"

So it happened that Molly and May were soon gliding through narrow
canals into a part of Venice they had not seen before.

It was morning, and they passed a milk man delivering his milk in a
flat-bottomed boat.

"That is a new kind of milk cart," exclaimed Molly. "In Naples they
have live milk carts, and in Holland they have dog carts, and here in
Venice they have boats."

"And see! There is a man with a boat load of vegetables," said May.
"He has just sold a string of onions and a cauliflower to the woman
standing in the doorway. If she should step out of her door she would
step right into the canal. O Antonio! Is that the only door into her
house?"

"Oh, no!" said Antonio. "Nearly every house in Venice has a canal door
on one side and a footpath door on the other side."

"See the woman up there on her balcony," said Molly. "She is lowering
a basket by a long rope. What is she saying, Antonio?"

"She wants a cauliflower and a string of onions, too, but she thinks
the man is asking too much for them. She has put a lira into her
basket and she is telling the man that he must not touch it unless he
is willing to give her a good cauliflower and a long string of onions
for it. The other woman had to pay a lira and a half for them. We will
watch and see what happens."

[Illustration: _He put them into the basket and look out the lira_]

"The man talks as if he didn't like it," said Molly. "But see! He is
putting them into her basket and is taking out the lira. Now he has
laid a red rosebud on top of the onions. He is lifting his hat
and smiling at her while she pulls up the basket."

"I knew she would get them," said Antonio. "She is a good business
woman."

As they glided along under the arch of a low bridge, May asked, "How
can your water streets always look so clean, Antonio? Don't people
ever throw things into them?"

"Oh, yes!" answered Antonio, "But our canals are all washed out twice
a day. The tide brings two or three feet of water into every canal in
Venice, and when it goes out it carries all the refuse away into the
sea. It is very easy to keep our city streets clean."

"But, Antonio, why did the people want to build a city 'way out here
in the water? Why didn't they stay on the land?" asked Molly.

"Well, it was because, thirteen hundred years ago, the Huns came down
from the north and drove many of the Italian people away from their
homes and spoiled their towns. The only safe place for them seemed to
be out here on some small, low islands, so they came and began to make
new homes for themselves. They soon liked it here and built
better homes and fine ships. They sailed their ships far away and
traded with many people. They built their houses and beautiful palaces
and churches on great wooden posts which they brought from other
lands. After a while their city became the richest and most beautiful
city in all the world. We are not so rich now, but Venice is just as
beautiful and we are very proud of her."

"Of course you are," said May. "It is like living in a wonderful,
great picture book. I should like to live here always."

"Well, this is where my little children live," said Antonio, as he
stopped his gondola in front of a low door just above the water's
edge.

"Anita mia! Maria! Come quickly! Here are two little friends for you."

As he called, two little girls about as tall as Molly and May came
bounding to the door. They had large brown eyes and brown, curly hair,
and their cheeks were as pink as roses.

Molly and May thought the little Italian girls were lovely, but Anita
and Maria never had dreamed of such beautiful blue eyes and such
lovely golden hair as they found under the two pretty sunbonnets.

[Illustration: _They led the Sunbonnet Babies into their house_]

They took the Sunbonnet Babies each by the hand and led them into
their house. It was a large, stone house, and they lived on the first
floor, not much above the canal.

The little guests were taken through the large hall, which was the
parlor, too, out into a small courtyard beyond. Though this yard had a
stone floor, it looked like a real little garden. There were long
boxes of vines and blooming plants on the walls, and two or three
small trees in large pots. Lying on a pillow in a shady corner was a
dear little baby boy.

[Illustration: _Lying on a pillow was a dear little baby boy_]

Anita and Maria were so proud of their baby brother they wanted to
show him to Molly and May the very first thing.

"His name is Giorgio," said Maria. "He is only three months old. See,
I can hold him in my arms."

"Where are his little feet?" asked Molly. "Why is he tied up so
tightly?"

"Oh, we always do our babies up in long linen bands," Anita said. "It
helps to keep their little legs straight. And see, Giorgio's bands are
fastened with red and green ribbons. Red and green are the Italian
national colors, you know."

"Doesn't he like to play and to kick with his feet? Our babies do in
America," said May.

"Oh, no!" answered Anita. "He isn't big enough yet to know that he has
any feet. But see, he can smile for you."

"Mother is going to give baby a bath in the canal now," said Maria.
"He thinks it is lots of fun and so do we. Would you like to watch him
have his bath?"

"Oh, we should love to!" exclaimed Molly and May.

So they watched Giorgio's mother unwind the yards and yards of linen
bands which held his tiny legs so stiff and straight. When the little
clothes were all off, the mother fastened a soft cord loosely around
under the baby's arms. Then from the stone steps in front of her door,
she lowered her baby very gently into the water of the canal. Up
and down she dipped him, up and down, while he laughed and splashed
like a real boy.

[Illustration: _Up and down she dipped him_]

"Just see him kick!" cried May. "He does know that he has feet, Anita,
and he knows how to use them, too. Isn't he having a good time?"

"And isn't he cunning?" said May.

At last the splashing and rubbing were over, and Giorgio's mother
covered him with a warm shawl and carried him into her kitchen. She
laid him on a high table, and wound the long linen bands around
the little legs once more.

"When Giorgio is a bit stronger," she said, "I shall loosen his bands
so that he can kick and play. Then it will not be long before he will
be wearing little pants. Now he must go back to his pillow in the
courtyard while I get our dinner. We want you little girls to have
dinner with us."

"Thank you!" said Molly and May. "We should like to very much. This is
a lovely kitchen. Do you keep all of your dishes on the walls?"

"Oh, no, indeed!" Maria answered, laughing. "Mother keeps only her
best brass and pewter dishes on the walls. Some of them are very, very
old. When Anita and I are married, mother will give them to us and we
shall put them on our kitchen walls. We think they are beautiful."

"Yes, they are lovely," said May, "but what an odd stove you have. It
looks like a part of the wall."

"It is built right into the wall," said Anita. "Our dinner is cooking
in the two black kettles hanging over the fire. It will be ready
very soon now."

There was boiled fish in one of the kettles and corn meal mush, or
polenta, in the other one. The poorer people of Venice have polenta
and boiled fish for dinner nearly every day. Perhaps once a week they
have meat and a fresh vegetable, and sometimes macaroni with grated
cheese sprinkled over it.

Molly and May liked the polenta and boiled fish very much. It was
nicely cooked, and they were hungry. When they had eaten all they
wanted, a basket of ripe red cherries was placed on the table. Antonio
had brought the cherries home as a special treat for the Sunbonnet
Babies and his own little girls. And how they did enjoy them!

After dinner Antonio took Molly and May back to their father and
mother in the hotel. Anita and Maria went, too, for they liked to ride
in their father's fine gondola, and they wanted to be with their
little new friends as long as possible.

"I wish we had something nice to give them, so they will never
forget us, May," whispered Molly, as they stepped out of the gondola.

[Illustration: _Anita and Maria liked to ride in their father's
gondola_]

"I know what we can do, Molly. Let's give them our sunbonnets. Mother
has two more in her trunk, and we are going home soon, you know."

In another moment the two pretty sunbonnets were changed from the
golden heads to the brown. Molly tied her pink bonnet over Anita's
brown curls and May tied her blue bonnet over Maria's brown curls.

"Now there will always be two Sunbonnet Babies in Italy," they said,
laughing. "Thank you for our happy, happy day. Addio, little Italian
Sunbonnet Babies! Addio!"

[Illustration]




A Letter to the Boys and Girls

_Dear Boys and Girls:_

_The Sunbonnet Babies think Italy is the nicest country they have ever
seen, excepting of course their own dear America. I wonder if you will
agree with them when you read all about what they did and what they
saw in that sunny, happy land._

_To be sure, in the little country of Holland they saw great green
pastures where thousands of fine cows were feeding, and fields and
fields of beautiful tulips, and miles and miles of canals, and tall
windmills pumping water or grinding grain._

_They visited quaint little villages where the people dressed in odd,
pretty costumes, and they had happy times playing with the Dutch
children. But they did not see a mountain or even a high hill in all
Holland, and there were no lovely, woodsy lakes like those they knew
in America._

_The Overall Boys have told them about the wonderful mountains and the
dark forests and the beautiful lakes which they saw in Switzerland._

_But the Sunbonnet Babies saw all these things in Italy, too, and,
what is more, they saw a beautiful, beautiful city surrounded by
lovely, blue water, with miles of water streets flowing through it._

_Then they visited another city which, many, many years before, had
been buried by hot lava and ashes thrown out from a volcano near by.
One day they walked across the crater of another volcano and
saw hot, boiling sand almost at their feet._

_They took long, beautiful drives through the country and along the
seashore. They explored a great cave under the Humpbacked Island, and
had an exciting experience with two pirates._

_But they enjoyed best of all their many little tea parties from sunny
Capri to the City in the Sea. Nearly every afternoon they sat by a
small table under an orange tree, or beside the blue water, or on a
city sidewalk, and had nice things to eat and drink._

_The people were always kind to them and the sky was nearly always
sunny. It is a land of sunshine and flowers and fruit, like our own
sunny Florida, though Italy is much more beautiful. It is hardly twice
the size of Florida, but nearly one-third as many people live there as
live in the whole of our great United States. It is a crowded, happy,
lovely country, and Molly and May will never forget their wonderful
journey through it._

    _Sincerely your friend_,
            EULALIE OSGOOD GROVER




PRONUNCIATION GUIDE FOR ITALIAN WORDS


KEY TO DIACRITICAL MARKS

    [=a]   as in ale
    [^a]   as in care
    [:a]   as in arm
    [=e]   as in eve
    [vi]   as in ill
    [=o]   as in old
    [.vo]  as in soft
    [=oo]  as in food
    [~n]   as in ca[~n]on


_addio_ ([:a]d d[=e]´[.vo])

_Anacapri_ ([:a] n[:a] k[:a]´pr[=e])

_Anita mia_ ([:a] n[=e]´t[:a] m[=e]´[:a])

_buon giorno_ (bw[.vo]n j[.vo]r´n[.vo])

_Capri_ (k[:a]´pr[=e])

_Giorgio_ (j[.vo]r´j[.vo])

_grazie_ (gr[:a]d´z[vi] [=a])

_il padre_ ([=e]l p[:a]´dr[=a])

_Luisa_ (l[=oo] [=e]´s[:a])

_Maria_ (m[:a] r[=e]´[:a])

_piazza_ (p[=e] [:a]d´z[:a])

_Pietro_ (p[=e] [^a]´tr[.vo])

_Pippo_ (p[vi]p´p[.vo])

_polenta_ (p[=o] l[^a]n´t[:a])

_Pompeii_ (p[.vo]m p[^a]´[=e])

_Ponte Vecchio_ (p[.vo]n´t[=a] v[^a]k´k[vi] [.vo])

_Rialto_ (r[=e] [:a]l´t[.vo])

_Salerno_ (s[:a] l[^a]r´n[.vo])

_si signor_ (s[=e] s[=e][~n][.vo]r´)

_signora_ (s[=e] [~n][.vo]r [:a])

_signorina_ (s[=e] [~n][.vo]r [=e]´n[:a])

_signorine_ (s[=e] [~n][.vo]r [=e]´n[=a])

_Solfatara_ (s[.vo]l f[:a] t[:a]´r[:a])

_Sorrento_ (s[=o]r r[^a]n´t[.vo])

_tarantella_ (t[:a] r[:a]n t[^a]l´l[:a])

_Trevi_ (tr[=a]´v[=e])

_Tessa mia_ (t[^a]s s[:a] m[=e]´[:a])

_una lira_ ([=oo]´n[:a] l[=e]´r[:a])

_un soldo_ ([=oo]n s[=o]l´d[.vo])

[Illustration:

      Oh, Italy's land is a wonderful land,
        And we're all of us glad that we came,
    We've seen Florence and Naples and Venice and Rome,
        And sights too many to name.

    But the place we like best in all the wide world,
      Is our Homeland across the blue sea,
    And so we'll go back to the Stars and the Stripes.
      To the flag that protects you and me.]