文档介绍：THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
THE RAILWAY
CHILDREN
by E. Nesbit
To my dear son Paul Bland, behind whose knowledge of railways my
ignorance confidently shelters.
1
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
CHAPTER I. The beginning of
things.
They were not railway children to begin with. I don't suppose they
had ever thought about railways except as a means of getting to
Maskelyne and Cook's, the Pantomime, Zoological Gardens, and Madame
Tussaud's. They were just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with
their Father and Mother in an ordinary red-brick-fronted villa, with
coloured glass in the front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a
bath-room with hot and cold water, electric bells, French windows, and a
good deal of white paint, and 'every modern convenience', as the house-
agents say.
There were three of them. Roberta was the eldest. Of course, Mothers
never have favourites, but if their Mother HAD had a favourite, it might
have been Roberta. Next came Peter, who wished to be an Engineer when
he grew up; and the youngest was Phyllis, who meant extremely well.
Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull calls to dull ladies,
and sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay calls to her. She
was almost always there, ready to play with the children, and read to them,
and help them to do their home-lessons. Besides this she used to write
stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after tea,
and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for
other great occasions, such as the christening of the new kittens, or the
refurnishing of the doll's house, or the time when they were getting over
the mumps.
These three lucky children always had everything they needed: pretty
clothes, good fires, a lovely nursery with heaps of toys, and a Mother
Goose wall-paper. They had a kind and merry nursemaid, and a dog who
was called James, and who was their very own. They also had a Father
who was