ys skip by, which,
set in smallpox, scarlet fever, and measles, must be longer there than
anywhere else in the world. The toys that were brought over there with
a consignment of nursery tots who had the typhus fever had been worn
clean out, except some fish horns which the doctor frowned on, and
which were therefore not allowed at large. Not as much as a red monkey
on a yellow stick was there left on the island to make the youngsters
happy.

That afternoon a big, hearty-looking man came into the office with the
paper in his hand, and demanded to see the editor. He had come, he
said, to see to it that those sick youngsters got the playthings they
were entitled to; and a regular Santa Claus he proved to the
friendless little colony on the lonely island; for he left a crisp
fifty-dollar note behind when he went away without giving his name.
The single condition was attached to the gift that it should be spent
buying toys for the children on North Brother Island.

Accordingly, a strange invading army took the island by storm three or
four nights ago. Under cover of the darkness it had itself ferried
over from One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street in the department yawl,
and before morning it was in undisputed possession. It has come to
stay. Not a doll or a sheep will ever leave the island again. They may
riot upon it as they please, within certain well-defined limits, but
none of them can ever cross the channel to the mainland again, unless
it be the rubber dolls who can swim, so it is said. Here is the
muster-roll:--

Six sheep (four with lambs), six fairies (big dolls in street dress),
twelve rubber dolls (in woollen jackets), four railroad trains,
twenty-eight base-balls, twenty rubber balls, six big painted (Scotch
plaid) rubber balls, six still bigger ditto, seven boxes of blocks,
half a dozen music-boxes, twenty-four rattles, six bubble (soap) toys,
twelve small engines, six games of dominos, twelve rubber toys (old
woman who lived in a shoe, etc.), five wooden toys (bad bear, etc.),
thirty-six horse reins.

As there is only one horse on the island, and that one a very
steady-going steed in no urgent need of restraint, this last item
might seem superfluous, but only to the uninstructed mind. Within a
brief week half the boys and girls on the island that are out of bed
long enough to stand on their feet will be transformed into ponies and
the other half into drivers, and flying teams will go cavorting around
to t