But when Cousin Annie was gone, Sukey found the Flats a dreary place. She
wished there were some pagodas, such as they have in India, or that there
were some cannibals living near her. She thought if she were rich, she
would buy an omnibus, with four "blaze-faced" sorrel horses, to drive for
her own amusement. She got tired of the pumpkins and cabbages, and longed
for grizzly bears and red Indians. She hated to wash dishes and feed the
chickens, but thought she would like to be a slave on a coffee plantation
in Ceylon.
"Oh, dear!" she sighed, "I wish I was out of the Hoop-Pole Country. There
is nothing beautiful or curious in these flats. I am tired of great
yellow sunflowers and hollyhocks and pumpkin blossoms. I wish I could see
something curious or beautiful."
Now, isn't it strange that any little girl should talk so, with plenty of
birds and trees and sunshine? But so it is with most of us. We generally
refuse to enjoy what is in our reach, and long for something that we
cannot get. Just as Chicken Little, here, always wants milk when there is
none, and always asks for tea when you offer her milk.
"Well, 'cause I'm firsty, that's the reason," said the Chicken.
Now, when Sukey said this, she was up in the loft, or second story, if
you could call it story, of her father's house.
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