"Arthur and Maud glanced away toward the clock that stood just beneath the golden dome in the tower of the Temple of Music. It was five minutes to the hour; yet the dolls were forsaking their playthings all over the village and rapidly hastening to the Temple. In a moment more the streets of the village were deserted.
"There lay their thousands of fine toys with no one to molest them. There stood their play-houses with wide-open windows and doors and no one to touch the fine furniture within; while beyond lay the broad, green, but now idle playground.
"The hands of the clock in the tower closed slowly, one upon the other, as if in loving embrace.
"One, two, three, came the sound of the chime in the belfry, and thus it continued until the last stroke of twelve, when, from the wide-open doors of the Temple of Music, the dolls filed out into the public square and formed themselves in circling rows around the band stand.
"In glittering raiment of silver and gold lace, the Doll-Baby Brass-Band of fully five hundred pieces appeared on the scene and took its place in the band stand.
"A marshall, or music master, climbed to his place on a pedestal.
"There was a loud tap of his gold baton and the instruments went up to the lips of the happy-faced players. Then came a firm wave of command; and one grand, wild burst of sweet melody fell upon the ears of the delighted children, so overcome by the sight and sound they had to lean upon the side of the golden throne, as all the dolls in the village thus began to sing:
"'Oh come to the Village of Hide and Seek,
For Little Boy Blue, and Little Bo-Peep,
With Hi-Diddle-Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle,