oldiers looked and marched splendidly; and the fine music was
enchanting. Guns were firing in the Park, and smoking and flaming like
steamboat funnels: little boys were popping off squibs and crackers,
and everybody seemed perfectly happy.

"Dear me!" cried Arthur, "I wish I could hear the speeches they intend
to make. I suppose they will be stuck full of compliments, not a word
of which the Mayor will understand; but, of course, he will bow a
great many times to show that he agrees with it all: and then he, in
return, will make a speech to the ambassadors, all flaming over with
fine words and flummery, and the Japanese will bow all in a row like
four-and-twenty fiddlers--and oh! how nice it will all be!"

When the children got home, they told Charley about the grand
procession, all speaking at once; and one of them put on an old black
gown of his mother's, and half shut his eyes, and would have shaved
his head, if his mother had let him, to show Charley just how they
looked; because he, poor little fellow, had to stay behind--he could
not have endured the fatigue of that long day away from home. But his
kind little mother never forgot him; she was determined he should see
something; so about eight o'clock that evening, two horses, with a
nice comfortable barouche, were driven up to the door, and Charley was
tenderly lifted in, and two large pillows were placed behind and at
his side, and his mother and two of the oldest children were driven
slowly down Broadway to see the illumination.

[Illustration: THE JAPANESE RECEPTION.]

The street was crowded. Beautiful colored lanterns were hung here and
there, and little Japanese flags fluttered in every direction. As they
came near the great Metropolitan Hotel, where the Japanese were
staying, the crowd increased, and a burst of delightful surprise broke
from Charley and the rest, as the beautiful blazing windows came in
view. In each of the several hundred windows were fine Japanese
lanterns of different colors and two little flags. Such a glittering
and a fluttering as they made! and over the door was the word
"Welcome," in blazing gas-burners, with the splendid flag of the
United States on one side, and a great Japanese banner on the other.
Everybody was shouting and hurrahing, and every up-turned face looked
happy, but none so merry and joyous as the children in the carriage;
their eyes fairly danced with delight, and their faces looked as if
they had been illuminated