Then said Agamemnon, "I will make a library. There are some boards in the wood-shed, and I have a hammer and some nails, and perhaps we can borrow some hinges, and there we have our library!" [Illustration] They were all very much pleased at the idea. "That's the bookcase part," said Elizabeth Eliza; "but where are the books?" So they sat and thought a little while, when Solomon John exclaimed, "I will make a book!" They all looked at him in wonder. "Yes," said Solomon John, "books will make us wise; but first I must make a book." So they went into the parlor, and sat down to make a book. But there was no ink. What should he do for ink? Elizabeth Eliza said she had heard that nutgalls and vinegar made very good ink. So they decided to make some. The little boys said they could find some nutgalls up in the woods. So they all agreed to set out and pick some. Mrs. Peterkin put on her cape-bonnet, and the little boys got into their india-rubber boots, and off they went. The nutgalls were hard to find. There was almost everything else in the woods,--chestnuts and walnuts, and small hazel-nuts, and a great many squirrels; and they had to walk a great way before they found any nutgalls. At last they came home with a large basket and two nutgalls in it. Then came the question of the vinegar. Mrs. Peterkin had used her very last on some beets they had the day before. "Suppose we go and ask the minister's wife," said Elizabeth Eliza. So they all went to the minister's wife. She said if they wanted some good vinegar they had better set a barrel of cider down in the cellar, and in a year or two it would make very nice vinegar. But they said they wanted it that very afternoon. When the minister's wife heard this she said she should be very glad to let them have some vinegar, and gave them a cupful to carry home. So they stirred in the nutgalls, and by the time evening came they had very good ink. [Illustration] [Illustration: SOLOMON JOHN'S BOOK--Page 26.]