"Dolls with bright, rosy cheeks came running as if almost wild to meet them. Some had azure eyes and light golden hair: while others, with dark piercing eyes and long raven locks might put to blush the fairest picture ever drawn. "They gathered around little Maud, and pulling at the hem of her dress, begged to be taken into her arms. At last she lifted a flaxen-haired beauty from the ground, and with a sweet, satisfied smile upon its face, it laid its head lovingly upon her breast as it said in a contented half-whisper: "'Please be my mamma, please be my mamma.' "Then a thousand sweet doll-baby voices cried out in chorus: "'No, she shall be my mamma. She shall be my mamma.' "And they raised such a hue and cry and scrambled so to get hold of her dress, that in order not to be partial, she had to let the little beauty down again on to the ground. "Amid the wild excitement of the dolls, Arthur was not alone. He stood to one side watching a little doll that was lying under a tree and talking with some other little dolls standing near by. "Its eyelids were wide-open, yet its eyes had an unnatural expression. For a long time he regarded her pityingly when he saw that the doll was blind. A strange manly-looking doll walked up to him, and, peering into his face, exclaimed: "'Seeing you are a stranger, sir, in the village of Hide and Seek, and noting your apparent sympathy for the blind doll lying yonder under the tree, allow me to tell you the life story of her who has so touched your emotions. Arthur bowed politely and expressed a desire to hear what the strange doll might have to say. The little fellow continued: "'Perhaps you have noticed by my long hair and studious demeanor that I am both a gentleman and a scholar; and right here let me say, I am the Village Poet. I can converse much more easily in verse than in prose; so if you will kindly listen to me for a moment, I will relate a little circumstance which occurred some time ago, and will tell you the plain, unvarnished truth about the blind doll.' Illustration: _"Perhaps you have noticed by my long hair and studious demeanor that I am both a gentleman and a scholar."_ "Resting for a moment, for he did not appear to be very strong, he breathed a long sigh as he began: "'Once on a time a Baboon came across yon mountain crown. He sailed down in a big balloon and landed near the town; And seeing, as he walked along, this blind doll lying near, He paused to say a kindly word, or shed a gentle tear. "'Why is it, little doll?' he asked, 'you lie here all the day, Instead of romping on the green, like other dolls at play? And why avoid the jolly crowd, pray tell me if you will, Is it that you thus like to be, or is it you are ill?'