little girl; tell us all about your pet toys."

"Auntie has told us that so often," said Maggie.

"Let us talk about something very old, and yet quite new to both of
you," I said. "What do you think the children played with hundreds and
hundreds of years ago?"

"Didn't they have dolls?" asked Maggie.

"Yes, they had dolls, but not like yours. They were small, and their
arms and legs were fastened on with bits of wire or wood."

"What were they made of?" asked Edith.

"They were generally made of clay or terra-cotta, but sometimes of wood
or wax. The hair was often ornamented with rows of beads, and sometimes
the dolls were painted all over with very bright colours, to please the
little ones to whom they were given. They used to make little toy
animals, too, and in Greece they had those small dancing figures which
we call marionets."

"Have they found anything besides dolls?"

"Yes; there are some little toys at the British Museum which were found
in Greece and Turkey. One of them is a woman kneading bread; another is
a black boy sitting on a pony, with a basket of fruit in front of him.
If ever you see them, you will think you are very fortunate little
children to have such beautiful toys."

"But I don't care about dolls," said Edith, blushing a little, for she
had been grumbling because her mother would not buy her a new one. "I'd
rather have a big ball. Did those old children play at ball, auntie?"

"Oh, yes! The very oldest we know of--the Egyptian children--had balls
of leather and some of painted china."

"I shouldn't like that," remarked Edith. "Fancy Charlie with an
earthenware ball! he'd break all the windows in the house."

"I don't suppose they let the children throw the hard balls about much.
The Greeks in later times loved ball as much as you do, but they played
it in a different way. They used to sing and dance at the same time. Can
you think of any word that we have which means dancing, and yet sounds
like a game?"

"Like a game of ball, auntie?" said Maggie.

"I know!" cried Edith clapping her hands; "you've just said it,
Maggie--a _ball_. Don't you know people always dance at a ball."

The children were very much pleased to find out that the grown-up
people's amusement took its name from one of their toys, and that the
short songs, or _ballads_, which we sing came from the songs which the
Greeks sang whilst they played ball.

"Did they play ball in any other way?" asked Maggie.

"Som