The Peterkin Papers | Page 4

for many days, came streaming in answers on
postals and on letters. Their card had been addressed to the lady from
Philadelphia, with the number of her street. But it must have been read
by their neighbors in their own town post-office before leaving; it must
have been read along its way: for by each mail came piles of postals
and letters from town after town, in answer to the question, and all in
the same tone: "Yes, yes; publish the adventures of the Peterkin
family."
"Publish them, of course."
And in time came the answer of the lady from Philadelphia:- "Yes, of
course; publish them."

This is why they were published.
CONTENTS. THE LADY WHO PUT SALT IN HER COFFEE 13
ABOUT ELIZABETH ELIZA'S PIANO 21 THE PETERKINS TRY
TO BECOME WISE 24 MRS. PETERKIN WISHES TO GO TO
DRIVE 29 THE PETERKINS AT HOME 33 WHY THE PETERKINS
HAD A LATE DINNER 36 THE PETERKINS' SUMMER JOURNEY
41 THE PETERKINS SNOWED-UP 48 THE PETERKINS DECIDE
TO KEEP A COW 56 THE PETERKINS' CHRISTMAS-TREE 63
MRS. PETERKINS TEA-PARTY 72 THE PETERKINS TOO LATE
FOR THE EXHIBITION 82 THE PETERKINS CELEBRATE THE
"FOURTH" 90 THE PETERKINS' PICNIC 104 THE PETERKINS'
CHARADES 114 THE PETERKINS ARE OBLIGED TO MOVE 124
THE PETERKINS DECIDE TO LEARN THE LANGUAGES 136
MODERN IMPROVEMENTS AT THE PETERKINS' 148
AGAMEMNON'S CAREER 160 THE EDUCATIONAL
BREAKFAST 172 THE PETERKINS AT THE "CARNIVAL OF
AUTHORS" IN BOSTON 188 THE PETERKINS AT THE FARM
206
THE LADY WHO PUT SALT IN HER COFFEE. THIS was Mrs.
Peterkin. It was a mistake. She had poured out a delicious cup of coffee,
and, just as she was helping herself to cream, she found she had put in
salt instead of sugar! It tasted bad. What should she do? Of course she
couldn't drink the coffee; so she called in the family, for she was sitting
at a late breakfast all alone. The family came in; they all tasted, and
looked, and wondered what should be done, and all sat down to think.
At last Agamemnon, who had been to college, said, " Why don't we go
over and ask the advice of the chemist? " (For the chemist lived over
the way, and was a very wise man.) Mrs. Peterkin said, "Yes," and Mr.
Peterkin said, "Very well," and all the children said they would go too.
So the little boys put on their india-rubber boots, and over they went.
Now the chemist was just trying to find out something which should
turn everything it touched into gold; and he had a large glass bottle into
which he put all kinds of gold and silver, and many other valuable
things, and melted them all up over the fire, till he had almost found

what he wanted. He could turn things into almost gold. But just now he
had used up all the gold that he had round the house, and gold was high.
He had used up his wife's gold thimble and his great-grandfather's
gold-bowed spectacles; and he had melted up the gold head of his
great-great-grandfather's cane; and, just as the Peterkin family came in,
he was down on his knees before his wife, asking her to let him have
her wedding-ring to melt up with an the rest, because this time he knew
he should succeed, and should be able to turn everything into gold; and
then she could have a new wedding-ring of diamonds, all set in
emeralds and rubies and topazes, and all the furniture could be turned
into the finest of gold.
Now his wife was just consenting when the Peterkin family burst in.
You can imagine how mad the chemist was! He came near throwing his
crucible-that was the name of his melting-pot-at their heads. But he
didn't. He listened as calmly as he could to the story of how Mrs.
Peterkin had put salt in her coffee.
At first he said he couldn't do anything about it; but when Agamemnon
said they would pay in gold if he would only go, he packed up his
bottles in a leather case, and went back with them all.
First he looked at the coffee, and then stirred it. Then he put in a little
chlorate of potassium, and the family tried it all round; but it tasted no
better. Then he stirred in a little bichlorate of magnesia. But Mrs.
Peterkin didn't like that. Then he added some tartaric acid and some
hypersulphate of lime. But no; it was no better. "I have it!" exclaimed
the chemist,-"a little ammonia is just the thing!" No, it wasn't the thing
at all.
Then he tried, each in turn, some oxalic, cyanic, acetic, phosphoric,
chloric, hyperchloric, sulphuric, boracic, silicic, nitric, formic, nitrous
nitric, and carbonic acids. Mrs. Peterkin tasted each, and