met with favor, and they went to the summer-house. Ada
had a large family of paper dolls, and Dolly of wooden ones. They
played tea party, and dinner, and visiting; but Willie could not
forget that they had a holiday, and he longed to do something unusual.

"You have too many girls, Ada," he cried. "Let us play China, and burn
some up."

A funeral pyre was soon constructed with splinters of wood, Dolly ran
to the kitchen for matches, and Willie turned his jacket inside out,
tied Ada's sack about his neck by the sleeves, put the watering-pot on
his head, and was ready to personate the priest. Ada selected four
victims, who were securely bound with thirty cotton, and laid on the
pile.

"Let us have Blackhawk for the idol," cried Ada.

Blackhawk was brought forth, a string of colored beads put about his
neck, and he was bolstered up in the arm-chair of the Princess
Widdlesbee, Dolly's largest doll. But when the match was struck and
applied with a great flourish, he sprang from his throne, and fled to
the farthest corner.

"The god is displeased; the sacrifice must cease," cried Ada, who
began to feel remorse as her dolls crisped and turned to ashes.

"No," shouted Willie, "I am the priest; I know he means burn all;" and
seizing a brand, he applied it to Dolly's village, which stood near
by. For a moment it was fun to see the flames bursting from the roofs
of houses, and lapping about the fences; but Dolly soon gave a cry of
dismay.

"Susanna and Posy are in the church; I don't want them burned."

"To the rescue!" shouted the heathen priest, snatching the pot from
his head, and running to fill it with water.

But Dolly could not wait, and had already burned a hole in her apron,
and singed her hair, trying to save her favorites. Blackhawk cowered
in the corner, stamping his hind feet, while Ada was pulling apart the
pyre on which her dolls had perished.

"O, Willie, the floor is burned. Hurry, hurry!" cried Dolly.

Willie ran, deluged the burning village, and Dolly seized Susanna and
Posy, free from damage, with the exception of Posy's legs, which were
so long, they lay outside the church door, and were burned off. When
they cleared away the ruins, there was a round, black spot on the
floor, where the village had stood, and the children's hands and
clothes were wet and grimy.

"Do you think mother will care?" asked Dolly, after they had looked
solemnly at one another.

"I don't believe she will as long as we