lves.

There was a great demand for maple leaves, and David White
was chosen the second leader, and had nearly all the votes.
The boys then gave three cheers for the leaders, and the
lines were formed. Mr. Lee told Henry and David just how
they were to march, and the band at once began to play "Hail
Columbia."

The children first marched, two by two, round the lawn, and
then down the centre. When they reached the end, one leader
turned off to the right, and the other to the left, each
followed by a single line of the children.

Passing round the lawn, they came together again on the
other side. Then they formed a great circle, a circle within
a circle, and concluded the march with the "grand basket."

This was certainly a very simple play, but the children
enjoyed it ever so much--I mean all but vain Master Woggs,
who was so greatly displeased because he was not chosen one
of the leaders, that he said there was no fun at all in the
whole thing.

About half an hour was spent in marching, and then Mr. Lee
proposed a second game. The children wanted to march a little
longer; but there were a great number of things to be done
before night, and so it was thought best, on the whole, to
try a new game.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The Old Fiddler.]

IV.

When the children had done marching, Mrs. Lee took charge of
the games. Several new plays, which none of them had heard
of before, were introduced. The boys and girls all liked
them very well, and the time passed away most rapidly.

Just before they were going to supper, an old man, with a
fiddle in his hand, tottered into the garden, and down the
lawn. He was a very queer-looking old man. He had long white
hair, and a long white beard.

He was dressed in old, worn-out, soldier clothes, in part,
and had a sailor's hat upon his head, so that they could not
tell whether he was a soldier or a sailor.

As he approached the children, they began to laugh with all
their might; and he certainly was a very funny old man. His
long beard and hair, his tattered finery, and his hobbling
walk, would have made almost any one laugh--much more a
company of children as full of fun as those who were
attending the birthday party.

"Children," said the old man, as he took off his hat and
made a low bow, "I heard there was a party here, and I came
to play the fiddle for you. All the boys and girls like a
fiddle, because it is so merry."

"O mother! what did send