way from Russia--so 'twas said.

The mechanical toys too were a great attraction. You dropped a penny
into a little slit in a box and a doll would begin to dance and play the
fiddle: and there was the Magic Mill, where for another modest copper
a row of tiny figures, wrinkled and old and dressed in the shabbiest of
rags, marched in weary procession up a flight of steps into the Mill,
only to emerge again the next moment at a further door of this wonderful
building looking young and gay, dressed in gorgeous finery and tripping
a dance measure as they descended some steps and were finally lost to
view.

But what was most wonderful of all and collected the goodliest crowd of
gazers and the largest amount of coins, was a miniature representation
of what was going on in France even at this very moment.

And you could not help but be convinced of the truth of it all, so
cleverly was it done. There was a background of houses and a very
red-looking sky. "Too red!" some people said, but were immediately
quashed by the dictum of the wise, that the sky represented a sunset, as
anyone who looked could see. Then there were a number of little figures,
no taller than your hand, but with little wooden faces and arms and
legs, just beautifully made little dolls, and these were dressed in
kirtles and breeches--all rags mostly--and little coats and wooden
shoes. They were massed together in groups with their arms all turned
upwards.

And in the center of this little stage on an elevated platform there
were miniature wooden posts close together, and with a long flat board
at right angles at the foot of the posts, and all painted a bright red.
At the further end of the boards was a miniature basket, and between the
two posts, at the top, was a miniature knife which ran up and down in a
groove and was drawn by a miniature pulley. Folk who knew said that this
was a model of a guillotine.

And lo and behold! when you dropped a penny into a slot just below the
wooden stage, the crowd of little figures started waving their arms up
and down, and another little doll would ascend the elevated platform and
lie down on the red board at the foot of the wooden posts. Then a figure
dressed in brilliant scarlet put out an arm presumably to touch the
pulley, and the tiny knife would rattle down on to the poor little
reclining doll's neck, and its head would roll off into the basket
beyond.

Then there was a loud whirr of wheels, a buzz of internal