McGuffey's & KISS KISS Grammar Main Course Page
McGuffey's Second Reader

Lesson XXXI.

MARY'S LETTER


Forest Hill, June 25, 1878.
My Dear Fanny:
     This morning, while out rowing, we all came near being drowned. Brother Ed, in trying to take a stick from Tom Reed, tripped and fell out of the boat. Papa and Mamma caught at him to save him, and before we knew it we were all in the water. The boat upset and how we were all saved I can hardly tell. A man in another boat which was near, picked us up.
     Had it not been for this, you would today have no cousin.
Mary Rose


Note: There is no punctuation mark between "boat" and "Papa" in the original.