Every day Antonio, their gondolier, came to take the Sunbonnet Babies and their parents for a ride in his graceful boat.

Antonio usually wore blue trousers and a white shirt, open at the neck and fastened with a large red tie. But some days he dressed all in white, with a bright red sash around his waist. Then he looked very handsome indeed.

One morning Antonio invited the Sunbonnet Babies to visit his home and see his little girls. Antonio had lived in America seven years and could speak English quite well.

"My little girls want to see you very much," he said. "I have told them all about your pretty blue eyes and your big sunbonnets. Will you come with me to-day?"

So it happened that Molly and May were soon gliding through narrow canals into a part of Venice they had not seen before.

It was morning, and they passed a milk man delivering his milk in a flat-bottomed boat.

"That is a new kind of milk cart," exclaimed Molly. "In Naples they have live milk carts, and in Holland they have dog carts, and here in Venice they have boats."

"And see! There is a man with a boat load of vegetables," said May. "He has just sold a string of onions and a cauliflower to the woman standing in the doorway. If she should step out of her door she would step right into the canal. O Antonio! Is that the only door into her house?"

"Oh, no!" said Antonio. "Nearly every house in Venice has a canal door on one side and a footpath door on the other side."

"See the woman up there on her balcony," said Molly. "She is lowering a basket by a long rope. What is she saying, Antonio?"

"She wants a cauliflower and a string of onions, too, but she thinks the man is asking too much for them. She has put a lira into her basket and she is telling the man that he must not touch it unless he is willing to give her a good cauliflower and a long string of onions for it. The other woman had to pay a lira and a half for them. We will watch and see what happens."

"The man talks as if he didn't like it," said Molly. "But see! He is putting them into her basket and is taking out the lira. Now he has laid a red rosebud on top of the onions. He is lifting his hat and smiling at her while she pulls up the basket."

"I knew she would get them," said Antonio. "She is a good business woman."

As they glided along under the arch of a low bridge, May asked, "How can your water streets always look so clean, Antonio? Don't people ever throw things into them?"

"Oh, yes!" answered Antonio, "But our canals are all washed out twice a day. The tide brings two or three feet of water into every canal in Venice, and when it goes out it carries all the refuse away into the sea. It is very easy to keep our city streets clean."

"But, Antonio, why did the people want to build a city 'way out here in the water? Why didn't they stay on the land?" asked Molly.

"Well, it was because, thirteen hundred years ago, the Huns came down from the north and drove many of the Italian people away from their homes and spoiled their towns. The only safe place for them seemed to be out here on some small, low islands, so they came and began to make new homes for themselves. They soon liked it here and built better homes and fine ships. They sailed their ships far away and traded with many people. They built their houses and beautiful palaces and churches on great wooden posts which they brought from other lands. After a while their city became the richest and most beautiful city in all the world. We are not so rich now, but Venice is just as beautiful and we are very proud of her."

"Of course you are," said May. "It is like living in a wonderful, great picture book. I should like to live here always."

"Well, this is where my little children live," said Antonio, as he stopped his gondola in front of a low door just above the water's edge.

"Anita mia! Maria! Come quickly! Here are two little friends for you."

As he called, two little girls about as tall as Molly and May came bounding to the door. They had large brown eyes and brown, curly hair, and their cheeks were as pink as roses.

Molly and May thought the little Italian girls were lovely, but Anita and Maria never had dreamed of such beautiful blue eyes and such lovely golden hair as they found under the two pretty sunbonnets.

They took the Sunbonnet Babies each by the hand and led them into their house. It was a large, stone house, and they lived on the first floor, not much above the canal.

The little guests were taken through the large hall, which was the parlor, too, out into a small courtyard beyond. Though this yard had a stone floor, it looked like a real little garden. There were long boxes of vines and blooming plants on the walls, and two or three small trees in large pots. Lying on a pillow in a shady corner was a dear little baby boy.

Anita and Maria were so proud of their baby brother they wanted to show him to Molly and May the very first thing.

"His name is Giorgio," said Maria. "He is only three months old. See, I can hold him in my arms."

"Where are his little feet?" asked Molly. "Why is he tied up so tightly?"

"Oh, we always do our babies up in long linen bands," Anita said. "It helps to keep their little legs straight. And see, Giorgio's bands are fastened with red and green ribbons. Red and green are the Italian national colors, you know."

"Doesn't he like to play and to kick with his feet? Our babies do in America," said May.

"Oh, no!" answered Anita. "He isn't big enough yet to know that he has any feet. But see, he can smile for you."

"Mother is going to give baby a bath in the canal now," said Maria. "He thinks it is lots of fun and so do we. Would you like to watch him have his bath?"

"Oh, we should love to!" exclaimed Molly and May.

So they watched Giorgio's mother unwind the yards and yards of linen bands which held his tiny legs so stiff and straight. When the little clothes were all off, the mother fastened a soft cord loosely around under the baby's arms. Then from the stone steps in front of her door, she lowered her baby very gently into the water of the canal. Up and down she dipped him, up and down, while he laughed and splashed like a real boy.

"Just see him kick!" cried May. "He does know that he has feet, Anita, and he knows how to use them, too. Isn't he having a good time?"

"And isn't he cunning?" said May.

At last the splashing and rubbing were over, and Giorgio's mother covered him with a warm shawl and carried him into her kitchen. She laid him on a high table, and wound the long linen bands around the little legs once more.

"When Giorgio is a bit stronger," she said, "I shall loosen his bands so that he can kick and play. Then it will not be long before he will be wearing little pants. Now he must go back to his pillow in the courtyard while I get our dinner. We want you little girls to have dinner with us."

"Thank you!" said Molly and May. "We should like to very much. This is a lovely kitchen. Do you keep all of your dishes on the walls?"

"Oh, no, indeed!" Maria answered, laughing. "Mother keeps only her best brass and pewter dishes on the walls. Some of them are very, very old. When Anita and I are married, mother will give them to us and we shall put them on our kitchen walls. We think they are beautiful."

"Yes, they are lovely," said May, "but what an odd stove you have. It looks like a part of the wall."

"It is built right into the wall," said Anita. "Our dinner is cooking in the two black kettles hanging over the fire. It will be ready very soon now."

There was boiled fish in one of the kettles and corn meal mush, or polenta, in the other one. The poorer people of Venice have polenta and boiled fish for dinner nearly every day. Perhaps once a week they have meat and a fresh vegetable, and sometimes macaroni with grated cheese sprinkled over it.

Molly and May liked the polenta and boiled fish very much. It was nicely cooked, and they were hungry. When they had eaten all they wanted, a basket of ripe red cherries was placed on the table. Antonio had brought the cherries home as a special treat for the Sunbonnet Babies and his own little girls. And how they did enjoy them!

After dinner Antonio took Molly and May back to their father and mother in the hotel. Anita and Maria went, too, for they liked to ride in their father's fine gondola, and they wanted to be with their little new friends as long as possible.

"I wish we had something nice to give them, so they will never forget us, May," whispered Molly, as they stepped out of the gondola.

"I know what we can do, Molly. Let's give them our sunbonnets. Mother has two more in her trunk, and we are going home soon, you know."

In another moment the two pretty sunbonnets were changed from the golden heads to the brown. Molly tied her pink bonnet over Anita's brown curls and May tied her blue bonnet over Maria's brown curls.

"Now there will always be two Sunbonnet Babies in Italy," they said, laughing. "Thank you for our happy, happy day. Addio, little Italian Sunbonnet Babies! Addio!"

A Letter to the Boys and Girls

Dear Boys and Girls:

The Sunbonnet Babies think Italy is the nicest country they have ever seen, excepting of course their own dear America. I wonder if you will agree with them when you read all about what they did and what they saw in that sunny, happy land.

To be sure, in the little country of Holland they saw great green pastures where thousands of fine cows were feeding, and fields and fields of beautiful tulips, and miles and miles of canals, and tall windmills pumping water or grinding grain.

They visited quaint little villages where the people dressed in odd, pretty costumes, and they had happy times playing with the Dutch children. But they did not see a mountain or even a high hill in all Holland, and there were no lovely, woodsy lakes like those they knew in America.

The Overall Boys have told them about the wonderful mountains and the dark forests and the beautiful lakes which they saw in Switzerland.

But the Sunbonnet Babies saw all these things in Italy, too, and, what is more, they saw a beautiful, beautiful city surrounded by lovely, blue water, with miles of water streets flowing through it.

Then they visited another city which, many, many years before, had been buried by hot lava and ashes thrown out from a volcano near by. One day they walked across the crater of another volcano and saw hot, boiling sand almost at their feet.

They took long, beautiful drives through the country and along the seashore. They explored a great cave under the Humpbacked Island, and had an exciting experience with two pirates.

But they enjoyed best of all their many little tea parties from sunny Capri to the City in the Sea. Nearly every afternoon they sat by a small table under an orange tree, or beside the blue water, or on a city sidewalk, and had nice things to eat and drink.

The people were always kind to them and the sky was nearly always sunny. It is a land of sunshine and flowers and fruit, like our own sunny Florida, though Italy is much more beautiful. It is hardly twice the size of Florida, but nearly one-third as many people live there as live in the whole of our great United States. It is a crowded, happy, lovely country, and Molly and May will never forget their wonderful journey through it.

Sincerely your friend,

Eulalie Osgood Grover