Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS, With Others of their kin. BY LUCRETIA P. HALE. * * * * * BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1906. _Copyright, 1886_, BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. Printers S.J. PARKHILL & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. TO THE LADY FROM PHILADELPHIA, BELOVED BY THE PETERKIN FAMILY, This Book is Dedicated. * * * * * PREFACE. The following Papers contain the last records of the Peterkin Family, who unhappily ventured to leave their native land and have never returned. Elizabeth Eliza's Commonplace Book has been found among the family papers, and will be published here for the first time. It is evident that she foresaw that the family were ill able to contend with the commonplace struggle of life; and we may not wonder that they could not survive the unprecedented, far away from the genial advice of friends, especially that of the Lady from Philadelphia. It is feared that Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin lost their lives after leaving Tobolsk, perhaps in some vast conflagration. Agamemnon and Solomon John were probably sacrificed in some effort to join in or control the disturbances which arose in the distant places where they had established themselves,--Agamemnon in Madagascar, Solomon John in Rustchuk. The little boys have merged into men in some German university, while Elizabeth Eliza must have been lost in the mazes of the Russian language. * * * * * CONTENTS. The Last of the Peterkins. CHAPTER I. ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER II. ELIZABETH ELIZA'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK III. THE PETERKINS PRACTISE TRAVELLING IV. THE PETERKINS' EXCURSION FOR MAPLE SUGAR V. THE PETERKINS "AT HOME" VI. MRS. PETERKIN IN EGYPT VII. MRS. PETERKIN FAINTS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID VIII. THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS Others of their Kin. IX. LUCILLA'S DIARY X. JEDIDIAH'S NOAH'S ARK XI. CARRIE'S THREE WISHES XII. "WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?" XIII. A PLACE FOR OSCAR XIV. THE FIRST NEEDLE * * * * * THE LAST OF THE PETERKINS. I. ELIZABETH ELIZA WRITES A PAPER.