It was so sudden that the children started back, but when he disappeared in the box again, they laughed loudly and clapped their hands.
“I wonder what he meant?” said Ray, and just then he caught sight of a small rubber button, on the side of the box. Ray pressed the button and lo! every Jack in the long row of boxes bobbed up with a grin and disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. Such a row of grinning faces made the children laugh harder than ever. They walked into another room in the castle and found that it was filled with toys of all sorts and sizes. The smallest thing was a tiny rooster on a monkey’s back, and the largest toy was a great horse with a real saddle.
They passed through the toy-room and came to a great closet; its shelves had stacks of cakes, pies and goodies piled high in flaky abundance. All sorts of sweets that boys and girls love made the little mouths water. The next room they entered was filled with picture-books. In the center of this picture-book room stood an object that looked something like a street hand-organ. Over it was written in large letters these words:—
“MACHINE FOR RHYMES, TURN CRANK AND HAVE ONE.”
“I like rhymes,” said Dorothy, “let’s hear one.” Ray turned the crank and got the following:—
Said Tommy Tid
To Johnny Bid,
“Let’s run away forever;
We’ll go to-day
So far away