They waited only for the winter's cold to pass away, and when the
first robins began to sing among the naked trees, they had left the
fine large house,--left the beautiful gardens where the children
used to play, left the great, comfortable arm-chairs and sofas, the
bookcases and tables, and the little beds beside the wall. Besides
their clothes, they had taken nothing with them but two great wooden
chests full of beautiful linen sheets and table-cloths. These had been
given to the mother by her mother long ago, before any of the children
were born, and they must be carried to the new home. You will see, by
and by, how glad the family all were to have them.

Did you ever go on board a ship? It is almost like a great house upon
the water, but the rooms in it are very small, and so are the windows.
Then there is the long deck, where we may walk in the fresh air and
watch the water and the sea-birds, or the sailors at work upon the
high masts among the ropes, and the white sails that spread out like a
white bird's wings, and sweep the ship along over the water.

It was in such a ship that our children found themselves, with
their father and mother, when the snow was gone and young grass
was beginning to spring up on the land. But of this they could see
nothing, for in a day they had flown on the white wings far out over
the water, and as Louise clung to her father's hand and stood upon the
deck at sunset, she saw only water and sky all about on every side,
and the red clouds of the sunset. It was a little sad, and quite
strange to her, but her younger brothers and sisters were already
asleep in the small beds of the ship, which, as perhaps you know, are
built up against the wall, just as their beds were at home. Louise
kissed her father and went down, too, to bed, for you must know that
on board ship you go _down_ stairs to bed instead of _up_ stairs.