THE JOURNEY. 13 



both old and young, were going to and fro in all di- 

 rections; porters, carrying huge trunks upon their 

 shoulders, were continually running against the pass- 

 ers-by, or stumbling about under their loads to the 

 seeming peril of a bevy of small boys, who were in 

 everybody's way; and waiters, with white aprons, 

 nicely balancing upon the tips of their fingers large 

 trays filled with dishes, were hurrying here and there 

 in apparently endless confusion. The clerk's desk 

 occupied, very nearly, the centre of the room or long 

 hall in which we found ourselves upon entering the 

 hotel, hence, to the general confusion was added 

 the bustle and crowd attendant upon the registering 

 of our names, and bell-boys showing people to their 

 rooms. Nor should we forget the numerous boot- 

 blacks, who acted their part in the scenes about us. 

 To get my supper, and find my room, and hasten 

 toward the land of dreams, was the work of a com- 

 paratively short time, though it seemed hours to one 

 who was so tired as myself; but it was at last accom- 

 plished. 



The next morning I awoke very early, refreshed both 

 in body and in mind with my night's rest. It was too 

 soon, as yet, to arise; and so I lay and watched the 

 dancing sunbeams which, through the blinds of my 

 half-closed windows, shone and played merry pranks 

 upon the opposite walls of the room, while the trees 

 outside, stirred by the light off-shore morning breeze, 

 sent shadowy images of fantastic shape moving, 

 here and there, among them. One immense, dumb- 

 bell-shaped sunbeam amused me greatly in its at- 

 tempts to smash a fine vase upon the mantle near 

 by. It would dash at it with unerring accuracy and 

 terrific impetus, only to stop short, within a few 

 inches of it, and return immediately to its former 

 position, leaving the vase wholly untouched. Above 

 this beamed another, now intensely bright now quite 

 dim; and, farther on, two small, active little fellows 

 played hide and seek behind each other, so that the 

 two became one and the one two again each alternate 



