time in
silent and self-reproachful admiration, when I became aware that the
business of this strange court was proceeding, and that the other toys
were pronouncing sentence against me.

"'Tie a string round her neck and take her out bathing in the brooks,'
I heard an elderly voice say in severe tones. It was the Dowager Doll.
She was inflexibly wooden, and had been in the family for more than one
generation.

"'It's not fair,' I exclaimed, 'the string was only to keep you from
being carried away by the stream. The current is strong and the bank
steep by the Hollow Oak Pool, and you had no arms or legs. You were old
and ugly, but you would wash, and we loved you better than many waxen
beauties.'

"'Old and ugly!' shrieked the Dowager. 'Tear her wig off! Scrub the
paint off her face! Flatten her nose on the pavement! Saw off her legs
and give her no crinoline! Take her out bathing, I say, and bring her
home in a wheelbarrow with fern roots on the top of her.'

"I was about to protest again, when the paint-box came forward, and
balancing itself in an artistic, undecided kind of way on two
camel's-hair brushes which seemed to serve it for feet, addressed the
Jack-in-a-box.

"'Never dip your paint into the water. Never put your brush into your
mouth--"

"'That's not evidence,' said the Jack-in-a-box.

"'Your notions are crude,' said the paint-box loftily; 'it's in print,
and here, all of it, or words to that effect;' with which he touched
the lid, as a gentleman might lay his hand upon his heart.

"'It's not evidence,' repeated the Jack-in-a-box. 'Let us proceed.'

"'Take her to pieces and see what she's made of, if you please,'
tittered a pretty German toy that moved to a tinkling musical
accompaniment. 'If her works are available after that it will be an era
in natural science.'

"The idea tickled me, and I laughed.

"'Hard-hearted wretch!' growled the Dowager Doll.

"'Dip her in water and leave her to soak on a white soup-plate,' said
the paint-box; 'if that doesn't soften her feelings, deprive me of my
medal from the School of Art!'

"'Give her a stiff neck!' muttered the mandarin. 'Ching Fo! give her a
stiff neck.'

"'Knock her teeth out,' growled the rake in a scratchy voice; and then
the tools joined in chorus.

"'Take her out when it's fine and leave her out when it's wet, and lose
her in--

"'The coal-hole,' said the spade.

"'The hay-field,' said the rake.

"'The shrubbery,' said the hoe