said Mr. Osborne.

"What is your character?" asked Ann Maria of Elizabeth Eliza.

"I have not quite decided," said Elizabeth Eliza. "I thought I should
find out after I came here. The marshal called us? 'Great
Expectations.'"

Mrs. Peterkin was at the summit of bliss. "I have shaken hands with
Dickens!" she exclaimed.

But she looked round to ask the little boys if they, too, had shaken
hands with the great man, but not a little boy could she find.

They had been swept off in Mother Goose's train, which had lingered on
the steps to see the Dickens reception, with which the procession of
characters in costume had closed. At this moment they were dancing
round the barberry bush, in a corner of the balcony in Mother Goose's
quarters, their feather-dusters gayly waving in the air.

But Mrs. Peterkin, far below, could not see this, and consoled
herself with the thought, they should all meet on the stage in the
grand closing tableau. She was bewildered by the crowds which swept
her hither and thither. At last she found herself in the Whittier
Booth, and sat a long time calmly there. As Cleopatra she seemed out
of place, but as her own grandmother she answered well with its New
England scenery.

Solomon John wandered about, landing in America whenever he found a
chance to enter a booth. Once before an admiring audience he set up
his egg in the centre of the Goethe Booth, which had been deserted by
its committee for the larger stage.

Agamemnon frequently stood in the background of scenes in the Arabian
Nights.

It was with difficulty that the family could be repressed from going
on the stage whenever the bugle sounded for the different groups
represented there.

Elizabeth Eliza came near appearing in the "Dream of Fair Women," at
its most culminating point.

Mr. Peterkin found himself with the "Cricket on the Hearth," in the
Dickens Booth. He explained that he was Peter the Great, but always in
the Russian language, which was never understood.

Elizabeth Eliza found herself, in turn, in all the booths. Every
manager was puzzled by her appearance, and would send her to some
other, and she passed along, always trying to explain that she had not
yet decided upon her character.

Mr. Peterkin came and took Cleopatra from the Whittier Booth.

"I cannot understand," he said, "why none of our friends are dressed
in costume, and why we are."

"I rather like it," said Elizabeth Eliza, "though I should be better
ple