e young
folks at The Cedars "put their heads together" for the selection of Mother
Goose characters.

Mrs. White "presided," and in the matter of reading rhymes and
impersonating the characters, it must be admitted the young gentlemen had
the advantage.

It was decided that the tableaux, or charades, would be presented "without
labels," and the audience would be permitted to guess what they stood for
in nursery lore.

"They won't need another guess on Dorothy's 'Bo Peep,'" said Tom. "That
crook is more famous in history than that of the original shepherds. 'Bo
Peep' is always a winner."

"I am sure," retaliated Dorothy, "they will know yours instantly. But it
is a pity we have to make them living pictures. You will hardly be able
to refrain from actually putting in your thumb if we provide one of
Norah's pies."

"And what a perfectly darling 'Little Jack Horner!'" added Tavia, for the
characters were being selected with a view to making them as ridiculous as
possible, and Tom would make a very funny "Jack Horner." Tom surveyed his
thumb in anticipation.

Roland and Tavia were assigned "Jack Spratt and His Wife." Roland could be
made up to look very lean, indeed, and Tavia was just stout enough to be
"practical for building purposes." Her face was of the broad, good-natured
type, and so her figure could readily be built up to correspond.

Nat insisted on being "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater," and wanted to have
the privilege of selecting the pretty Eva Brownlie to put in the pumpkin
shell, "for," argued Nat, "that is the only way any fellow will ever be
able to keep the wily Eva."

The character of "Old King Cole" was assigned to Ned, with the
instructions that he should get his "fiddlers three."

"Also the pipe and bowl," insisted Nat; "and see to it that you don't take
my pipe or the 'bumper' I brought from the doings the other night. You
wouldn't carry one home yourself."

"I'll tell you a tableau hard to guess," suggested Dorothy. "'The Beggars
Coming to Town.' We could have half a dozen ragged people in that, and Nat
could bark behind the scenes."

"And we could have 'Mary, Mary, quite contrary,'" proposed Tavia. "Make
Lily Bently take that."

"Lily is a real sweet girl," spoke Mrs. White. "I hardly think she would
like such a character."

"She would make a dear 'Miss Muffet,'" said Dorothy, "and I'm sure Nat can
make up a wonderful spider--all strung by electrical wire, squirming
and--"

"Wiggling