things happened. The Calico Clown stood up near the Candy Rabbit and
looked about. Then the Calico Clown banged together the shiny brass
cymbals he held in his hands.

"Clang! Bang!" went the cymbals.

"Ha! that sounds like war," cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Come, my men!
Forward--march!"

And then and there the tin soldiers, with their captain holding his
shiny tin sword in his hand, marched out of their box and around the
toy counter of the big department store.

Yes, I wish you could have seen them; but it isn't allowed, you know.
Just the very minute the eyes of a boy or a girl, or, for that matter,
a father or mother or aunt, uncle or cousin--just the very moment any
one looks, the toys are as still as clothespins.

"Aren't they fine?" cried a Monkey on a Stick, as he scrambled up to
the very top of his staff, so he might look over the pile of building
blocks that stood near some picture books. "I wish I were a soldier!"

"Oh, no!" exclaimed a Boy Doll.

"You are funnier as a Monkey," remarked the Calico Clown.

"But I am not as funny as you are," laughed the Monkey. "Tell us a
joke, that's a good fellow! Tell us something funny, Calico Clown, so
we may laugh. We have had no fun all day."