s came, without invitation, peeping inside, looking for
crumbs. And, seeing what looked like a party, down flew, with a whir and
rustle, a flock of doves, saying, "Coo-oo! how do-oo-do!" and prinking
themselves in our very faces. Yes, we really had too many of these
surprise-parties; for, another time, it was a wasp that came to tea, and
flew from me to Katy, and from Katy to me, till we flew, too, to hide
our heads in grandma's lap. Then she gave us the apron, which was very
grand, though the blue stripes were walking into the red ones, and there
were a good many little holes which let small arrows of light fly out.
That was when we lighted the chandelier, and they (the holes and the
arrows) were the very things to let people know what grand doings there
were inside.

Then, when our crockery was arranged on the shelf at the back, a stool
set in the middle for a table, our two small green chairs placed one at
either end, and a good many nails driven into the "walls" to serve as
hooks,--then we gave a party. The dolls were invited, of course, and
their invitations Katy wrote on her slate. To be sure, the letters
looked a good deal like Jack and Jill,--climbing up hill and tumbling
down again,--still the dolls understood us. There were no little girls
invited, because little girls couldn't have squeezed in, unless they
were willing to be hung up, like the extra dollies.

But oh! wouldn't they have liked to go? We had ice-cream, just made of
vanilla, cream-candy, and water,--delicious! Then there was a whole
tea-potful of chocolate-tea, which was a chocolate-cream drop scraped
fine and mixed with water. Do just try it sometime. Thimble-biscuits,
too, and holes with cookies round them. I never expect to be as happy
again as I was when I dropped the curtain at half-past four precisely,
and lighted the chandelier, which I forgot to say was a candle cut in
two, stuck in cologne-bottles of different shapes and colors.

We well knew--for didn't we go out twice to look?--how splendidly the
light streamed through the two windows and the eight holes. Why, the
chickens knew it, too, on their perches, for they opened one sleepy eye
after another, solemnly changed legs, and dozed off again. Those long
rays of light, playing truant, ran down the lane and flashed into the
very eyes of naughty Billy Quinn, who was going home from a visit,
whistling, and with his hands in his pockets.

Of course the dolls arrived promptly, and took off