POLLY
IN NEW YORK
BY
LILLIAN ELIZABETH ROY
Author of
POLLY OF PEBBLY PIT, POLLY IN NEW YORK,
POLLY AND HER FRIENDS ABROAD, POLLY’S
BUSINESS VENTURE.
ILLUSTRATED BY
H. S. BARBOUR
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
POLLY IN NEW YORK
CHAPTER I—IN THE BIG CITY
The long Pullman train, that left Denverbehind and carried Polly Brewster away on herfirst venture from the ranch-home, was fitted upas luxuriously as capital could do it. EleanorMaynard, Polly’s bosom friend, enjoyed her companion’sawe and wonderment—that a mere carshould be so furnished.
“Nolla,” whispered Polly, furtively glancingabout, “how different are these cars from the onesthat come in and go out at Oak Creek!”
Eleanor, whose pet name was Nolla, laughed.“I should think they would be, Polly. Why,those ‘ancients’ that rock back and forth betweenDenver and Oak Creek, are the ‘only originals’now in existence. They’ll be in Barnum’s Shownext Season as curios.”
Polly seemed to fully appreciate the comfort of1her traveling carriage, and remarked, “One wouldhardly believe these cars are going at all! Theyrun so smoothly and without any awful screechingof the joints.”
Anne Stewart, the teacher to whose chargethese two girls had been committed, had beenstudying the time-table, but she smiled at Polly’swords. Then she turned to her mother, a sweet-facedwoman who was enjoying the trip almost asmuch as the young girls were, and said: “Mother,we’ll have at least seven hours in Chicago beforewe have to take the New York train. We can visitPaul all that time.”
“Goody! Then Poll can visit John and I cansee Daddy,” exclaimed Eleanor, eagerly. “Butwe must first charter the wash-room to turnourselves from dusty travelers into respectablecitizens.”
“There isn’t a fleck of dust to be seen, Anne,”objected Polly, glancing around the tidy interior,then at herself and friends.
“Wait till after we have crossed the plains andpassed through all kinds of towns—we won’t looklike the same people.”
To Polly, that journey was a source of great interestand fun. The dining-car, the folding tablesfor games or work, the sleeping arrangements—all2were so strangely different from the vast open-airlife of the ranch.
Then the express train reached Chicago and therecess hours were filled with greetings, visits andthen good-bys, before the little party of four wason its last lap of the journey.
After leaving Chicago, Eleanor asked curiously:“What did you think of our city, Polly?”
“I never saw such crowds of troubled people!Everyone looked as if the worries of the universerested upon his mind. And not one soul walkedor acted as if there was a moment to spare beforethe end of the world would throw ever