had nearly all the votes. The boys
then gave three cheers for the leaders, and the lines were formed.
Mr. Lee told Henry and David just how they were to march, and the
band at once began to play "Hail, Columbia."

The children first marched, two by two, round the lawn, and then
down the center. When they reached the end, one leader turned off
to the right, and the other to the left, each followed by a single
line of the children.

Passing round the lawn, they came together again on the other side.
Then they formed a great circle, a circle within a circle, and
concluded the march with the "grand basket."

This was certainly a very simple play, but the children enjoyed it
ever so much--I mean all but vain Master Woggs, who was so greatly
displeased because he was not chosen one of the leaders, that he
said there was no fun at all in the whole thing.

About half an hour was spent in marching, and then Mr. Lee proposed
a second game. The children wanted to march a little longer; but
there were a great number of things to be done before night, and so
it was thought best, on the whole, to try a new game.

[Illustration: The old fiddler.]

IV.

When the children had done marching, Mrs. Lee took charge of the
games. Several new plays, which none of them had heard of before,
were introduced. The boys and girls all liked them very well, and
the time passed away most rapidly.

Just before they were going to supper, an old man, with a fiddle in
his hand, tottered into the garden, and down the lawn. He was a
very queer-looking old man. He had long white hair, and a long
white beard.

He was dressed in old, worn-out, soldier clothes, in part, and had
a sailor's hat upon his head, so that they could not tell whether
he was a soldier or a sailor.

As he approached the children, they began to laugh with all their
might; and he certainly was a very funny old man. His long beard
and hair, his tattered finery, and his hobbling walk, would have
made almost any one laugh--much more a company of children as full
of fun as those who were attending the birthday party.

"Children," said the old man, as he took off his hat and made a low
bow, "I heard there was a party here, and I came to play the fiddle
for you. All the boys and girls like a fiddle, because it is so
merry."

"O mother! what did send that old man here?" cried Flora.

"He came of himself, I suppose," replied Mrs. Lee, laughing.

"I think it is too bad t