Mary and Papa stood on the bank and watched the barge float down the canal without them. How would they get back on it? Margaret was standing on the deck of the barge, but she couldn't do anything to help. "I'll go tell Mama!" she shouted. Then she hurried inside.
"Papa! What will we do?" Mary asked anxiously.
"We will follow the canal," said Papa. "Come, little one! If we walk, we will only stay even with the barge. We will have to run to get ahead."
So they ran.
They ran past people and carriages and horses. They ran between ladies buying food and children playing tag. And they kept running till they got to the next bridge across the canal.
But Papa didn't stop there. He led Mary out onto the bridge and turned to face the oncoming barge. Then he put his big strong hands on his daughter's shoulders and looked into her eyes very seriously.
"Now, Mary, you will have to hold tightly to my hand when we jump."
Mary's eyes grew wide. "Are we going to jump onto the roof, Papa?"
He nodded. "Don't worry. You will be safe because you are with me."
Then his blue eyes twinkled as he added, "And this time, Mama won't mind if you jump like a cat!"
So Mary took her place beside him as they waited.
They heard the bargeman call out the familiar warning, "Low bridge!" The passengers on board moved quickly down below. Then they all turned to watch the two stranded travelers.
"We will have to move to the other side of the bridge," Papa said suddenly. Mary wondered why, but she obeyed him. As the barge moved closer, though, she understood. If they jumped down on the near side, they would not have time to make it off the roof. The bridge would knock them over.
After they crossed quickly to the other side, they faced away from the barge. Mary peered down at the swirling canal water. It looked so far away! It was much farther than the deck had been when she jumped off the roof, she was sure.
How she wished now that she had not spent that extra time on Henry the mule's broad back! She swallowed hard, and gripped Papa's hand tightly. Papa squeezed back. He smiled down at her and nodded gently.
"It will be all right, my little one. We will just step off the bridge and land on the boat. But you must do exactly as I do. Look at me, not the water."
Suddenly the barge nosed out from under the bridge. Mary watched her father carefully.
"Get ready," he said. "Now, jump!"
Together, they leaped. For a moment there was nothing at all beneath Mary's feet.
And then they landed safely on the roof below. Mary shouted happily. The watching passengers cheered.
Margaret climbed up quickly to join them. "Were you scared, Mary?"
"No!" Mary laughed, her fears already forgotten. "I just watched Papa. It was fun!"
Then she added in a hopeful tone, "Papa, do you think we could miss the barge again at the next stop?"
But at the next stop, it was time for everybody to get off. After ten days, they had reached Albany, the end of the Erie Canal. Papa hired a driver to take them to the Hudson River for the three-day boat trip to New York City.
Soon they were aboard a big paddle-wheeled steamboat, heading downriver. Mary was amazed at how quickly they moved through the water. She tried to picture Henry harnessed to this boat. She laughed aloud. Why, they would be pulling him!
One evening after supper, a group of banjo players started singing. Soon a large crowd had gathered around them. Mary and Margaret were right up front, with Papa and Mama not far behind. The girls didn't know most of the songs, but they liked listening. Mary even hummed along. The last song, though, was one she knew well. Delighted, she sang out loud.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound . . ."
As she sang, others started joining in. Suddenly, everybody was singing. It sounded wonderful.
After the song was over, Mary and Papa went out on the deck to watch the water. The sun was starting to go down, and there was a cool breeze. As they walked, Mary hummed, and soon she was singing again.
"Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come-"
Suddenly, she stopped. "Papa, what are toils and snares?"
Papa answered, "Toils are hard jobs. Snares are like the traps you used to set to catch rabbits back in the village."
"How could something go through a trap?"
Papa thought for a minute. Then he looked down at the river that flowed alongside the boat. "Watch the water. Do you see how it flows downstream?"
Mary looked. She nodded.
"Does it go straight downstream? Look carefully all around you."
Mary looked again, more carefully. She looked at the water that splashed up when the big paddle wheel turned. She looked behind the boat, at the eddies. She looked at the riverbank. In some places the water even swirled backward, rushing around fallen logs and jutting stones.
"No, Papa. Sometimes the water gets trapped."
"Does it stop there?"
"No! It finds a way around... or through!"
"Yes, and we are like that, Mary. When God gives us a direction, we may have to go through toils or snares, but He will always make a way. We just have to follow Him. Follow the river of His Grace."
Mary looked again at the swirling water on the river bank. Then she started spinning and swirling herself, around and around. "Look, Papa! I'm the water! I'm in a trap, trying to get out!"
Papa shook his head, smiling as he watched his daughter. And then very quietly, so she could barely hear, he finished her song,
"Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
The peaceful farms on the riverbank changed to busy streets and fancy storefronts. On the last day, Mary didn't even remember eating dinner because she was trying so hard to see all the new buildings. They seemed to sprout up, getting taller and taller as the boat got closer to docking.
Before she knew it, the trip was over. On the dock, ladies in fine dresses and gentlemen with fancy hats stood waiting to greet relatives and friends.
But Mary looked at the city.
The bustle around her filled her senses, making her want to run off the boat before it finished docking. New York City was alive!She took a deep breath and waited.
As the steamboat docked, she heard burly men onshore calling to one another. She watched them snatch up huge wooden crates from cargo holds. She saw other men fling heavy bags around as easily as if they were filled with goose feathers, yet the bags thumped loudly when they struck the dock.
Out on the river, dozens of boats churned up and down. Their whistles blew as they passed each other. Mary jumped when a bigger ship sounded its long, low horn. The ship sounded as if it were coming from right behind her, but it was way out in the harbor.
A horse-drawn omnibus arrived, and its driver called out, "Uptown Manhattan! Departure in ten minutes!"
Mary smiled. Soon, she would be part of this bustling city!
"Look!" Mama said, grabbing Papa's arm. "James is waving! Over there by that carriage!"
"Who is the lady in that beautiful green dress?" Margaret wanted to know.
"That's Aunt Ellen," Mama answered. "And there's Sarah, on her left."
Sarah had spotted them. She pulled on her mother's arm and said something Mary couldn't hear. Aunt Ellen shook her head, but then Sarah gestured toward Mary and said something else. Aunt Ellen glanced over at her husband for a second, and then she shrugged and nodded. Immediately, Sarah grabbed up as much of her full red skirt as she could hold.
She ran as fast as she could toward Mary.
As she rushed toward them, Mary marveled at the hat she wore.
And that carriage looked so fancy! Mary decided her cousin must be rich.Sarah stopped abruptly right in front of Mary. She looked her over. Mary looked back boldly. Sarah grinned and gave a slow nod. "We're going to be best friends, you know, not just cousins. We'll do everything together!"
By that time, Aunt Ellen and Uncle James had arrived. Mama hugged her sister.
"Are you ready for a tour of New York City?" Uncle James boomed to his nieces, Mary and Margaret. They didn't have to answer. Their faces beamed with excitement!
Uncle James laughed heartily, and led the way to the waiting carriage.
Uncle James stopped the fancy carriage on a street filled with brick walls and big windows. Mary eagerly climbed down. She could hardly wait to explore.As they walked along the street, she was amazed at what she saw in the stores. China dolls with perfect china faces stared out at her from store windows on one side of the street. On the other side, windows dazzled her with jewelry and fancy dresses. She moved excitedly from window to window. Mama and Papa laughed to see her so happy.
Sarah followed her, but she only glanced at most of the windows. She knew them all by heart.
At the doll store, Mary pressed her face against the glass. "I've never had a china doll," she said.
With a strange half-smile, Sarah said, "I have ten at home. I'll show you when we get there."
Mary looked at her, admiringly. She imagined herself being rich like that, owning everything she ever wanted.
At the hat store, while Mary looked at every hat, Sarah was also looking. But her gaze seemed to be on her own reflection in the window. She adjusted her broad-brimmed hat and smoothed the wide red bow under her chin.
Mary noticed the next store and ran on, to the next window and the next. She looked at hats and pocket watches, chairs and violins.
Then suddenly she stopped before the open door of a small shop. Her mouth opened without a sound as she gazed at a hand-carved wooden box.
"Mama," she whispered, as soon as she found her voice. "That box is singing!"
And so it was. A soft melody floated out to them. Mary could hear the smooth strains even with all the voices and horse-and-wagon noises from the city streets around her. This was almost as good as a piano. And it was small enough to fit in their covered wagon!
"Oh, Papa, could I have it? If I could, I'd be so happy! I'd never, ever fuss again! Oh, please, would you buy it for me? Please?"
"That's an especially nice music box," Sarah offered. "Of course, it’s much smaller than the one we have at home, but it makes lovely music."
Papa said nothing, for a very long time. He just looked at Mary. He seemed to be thinking of a lot of things all at once. Mary held her breath. Would he say yes?
"It is very pretty, Mary," he said at last, "and it makes nice music. But a music box has only one song to sing. You have many! Do you remember when we were on the steamboat? You sang so sweetly that everyone else wanted to sing, too. A music box will never do that for you."
He touched her chest gently. "A music box, Mary, has no heart."
Mary looked away from his steady gaze. She turned and shuffled back toward Mama, barely picking up her feet. She was sure she couldn't live without that music box. She knew it had no heart, but couldn't he see that her heart needed it?
Mary sighed, then kicked a small stone on the cobbled street. The stone skittered away toward an alley, barely missing a gray tabby cat. The cat jumped from the street to the top of a nearby wooden crate and meowed at Mary.Suddenly, Sarah stood at her side.
"Parents are all alike. It's their job to say no. It's our job to make them say yes," she whispered.
Her eyes narrowed, darting quickly from Mary to Peter and then back to Mary. "So don't give up!""Why not?" Mary said sadly. "Papa doesn't like it."
"I know," said Sarah, her eyebrows folding mischievously. Then she smiled a slow, certain kind of smile.
"But you haven't heard my plan!"
Mary glanced at her father and thought back to the swirling water that wouldn't give up, that refused to be trapped.
The afternoon sun slid behind a bank of tightly knit clouds that blocked its warm golden rays from the streets and storefronts.
Mary inched closer to Sarah, then lowered her voice.
"So, what is your plan?"
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