“ALL ABOARD!”

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY, my nurse used to take me to the railroad station to see the trains. A man in a blue cap and blue suit with brass buttons would call, “All aboard for Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and points north and east!” and wave his arm for the train to start. My nurse said he was a conductor.

So when I went home I used to put on a cap and play conductor shouting, “All aboard for Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and points north and east!” over and over, again and again, until I was told, “For pity sake, stop it!”

But some day I hoped, when I grew up, to be a real conductor in a blue cap and a blue suit with brass buttons. And now that I am grown up, I am still playing conductor, for in this book I am going to take you to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and points north, east, south and west—round the World!