That ugly old spelling I never can learn!
O, into a kitty I wish I could turn!"
"I am not a fairy,"
Her mother replied; "To me all the power Of magic"s denied; But you may be idle From morning till night, And see if "do nothing"
Will set your case right."
"O, shall I do nothing But play all day long, And sing with my kitty A holiday song?
How happy, and merry, And joyous "twill be To have no hard lessons-- From study be free!"
"Do what will best please you; Be idle all day; Recite no more lessons; Do nothing but play."
Then Nellie, rejoicing, Flew out of the room; Played _hide_, _horse_, and _dolly_, And rode on the broom.
But long before dinner Poor Nell had "played out,"
And studied, and studied, And wandered about, To find some new pleasure, Some game, or some play, To use up the hours, And end that long day;--
And long before evening Was cross as a bear-- Just like the McFlimsey With "nothing to wear."
And tired of nothing, And tired of play, No day was so tedious As that idle day.
"O mother! my lessons I think I will get, And then I can play As I never played yet.
I do not feel happy With nothing to do; I cannot endure it Another day through."
"I thought so, my Nellie; To make your play sweet You must work, and be useful To those whom you meet.
The idle are never So happy as they Who work for themselves Or for others each day."
DOLLY AND I.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Green took the doll.--Page 146.]
DOLLY AND I.
I.
Do you know what envy means? I hope you have never felt it, for it is a very wicked feeling. It is being sorry when another has any good thing. Perhaps you will know better what the word means when you have read my story; and I hope it will help you to keep the feeling away from your own heart.
Not far from Mr. Lee"s house, in Riverdale, lived a man by the name of Green. He was the agent of one of the factories in the village.
Mr. Green had two little girls and three sons. The boys have nothing to do with my story, and for that reason I shall not say a great deal about them.
Katy, Mr. Green"s older daughter, was ten years old. She was a pretty good girl, but she did not like to have others get good things, when she did not have any herself. If any person gave one of her brothers an apple, or an orange, she seemed to think she ought to have it.
When she was a baby, she used to cry for everything she saw, and would give her parents no peace till they gave it to her. I am sorry to say they were sometimes very weak on this point, and gave her things which she ought not to have had, just to quiet her.
Her father and mother hoped, when she grew older, she would not want everything that belonged to her brothers. If Charles had a plaything, Katy wanted it, and would cry till she got it. Very often, just to make her stop crying, her mother made poor Charley give up the thing.
But as Katy grew older, she seemed to want everything that others had just as much as ever. She was now ten years old, and still she did not like to see others have anything which she could not have.
It is true she did not always say so, but she felt it just as much, and was very apt to be cross and sullen towards those whom she envied.
Nellie Green was not at all like her sister. She was only eight years old, but there was not a bit of envy in her. She would give a part, and often the whole, of her apples, oranges, candy, and playthings to her sister, and to her brothers. She liked to see them happy, and when Charley ate an apple, it tasted just as good to her as though she were eating it herself.
She was not selfish. She would always divide her good things with her friends. Did you ever see a little boy or a little girl eating an apple or some candy, and another little boy or girl standing by, and looking just as if he wanted some?
Nellie always gave her friends a part, and then she not only enjoyed what she ate herself, but she enjoyed what they ate. This is the way to make apples, oranges, and candy taste good.
One New Year"s Day, Katy"s aunt, after whom she was named, sent her a beautiful wax doll. It was a very pretty doll, and the little girl was the happiest child in Riverdale when the welcome present reached her.
There was another little girl in Riverdale who was almost if not quite as happy; and that was Nellie, her sister. It is true, the doll was not for her; she did not own any of it, and Katy would hardly let her touch it; but for all this, Nellie was pleased to see her sister so happy.
The dolly"s name was Lady Jane; for Katy thought, as she was a very fine doll, she ought to have a very fine name. So, when she spoke to the doll,--and she talked a great deal with her,--she always called her Lady Jane. The two little girls had five or six other dolls, but none of them were anything near such fine ladies as Lady Jane. Their heads were made of porcelain, or rubber, or composition, and they had grown so old that they were really ugly.
Miss Lucy, who had a rubber head, looked as though she "had been through the wars." Her nose was worn out, so that she had a great hole in the end of it. I suppose, if she had wanted to sneeze, this hole would have been very handy; but Miss Lucy was a very proper young lady, and never sneezed in company. If she ever sneezed when alone, of course there was no one present to know anything about it.
There was another hole right in the top of her head, so that if she had had any brains, they would certainly have leaked out; but as Miss Lucy was not a strong-minded woman, I suppose she had no use for brains.
One of the family of dolls was a little black girl, whose name was Dinah. She had seen hard service in her day, and did not look as though she would last much longer.
Miss f.a.n.n.y had once been a fine lady, but times had gone hard with her, and her fine clothes were both ragged and dirty. But hard times were not so very bad, for she wore the same smile as when her clothes had been new and nice.
Miss Mary was a poor cripple. By a sad accident she had broken one of her legs. Katy placed her on a table one day, and either because the height from the floor made her dizzy, or because she was laid too near the edge, she had tumbled off, and one leg was so badly broken that neither a wooden nor a cork one could be fastened in its place.
Therefore Miss Mary could not walk about the room, and never went anywhere, except when she was carried. But she was not half so badly off as Miss Susie, who had broken her neck, and lost off her head. The head was tied on with a string, but it kept falling off while the family were at play; but Miss Susie did not seem to mind it at all.
She got along a great deal better without her head than you or I could without ours. Indeed, she wore the same smile upon her face whether the head was on or off--which teaches us that we ought always to be cheerful in misfortune.
Besides these fine young ladies there were two or three rag babies; but as you could not tell by the looks of them what they were thinking about, I will not say anything about them. They had no virtues worth telling; they never ate soup with a fork, or gave money to the poor.
Some of my readers may not think much of this family of dollies, but I am sure Katy and Nellie had fine times with them. They used to spend hours together with them, and the dollies used to do everything that anybody could do.
Miss f.a.n.n.y used to visit a great deal, in spite of her dirty, ragged clothes; so did Miss Lucy, with two holes in her head, and Miss Mary, with her broken leg, and Miss Susie, with her broken neck. All of them used to go a-visiting, except Miss Dinah, and she, being a black girl, had to do the sweeping and tend the door.
These ladies were all of them so bashful that they would not speak in company, and Katy and Nellie had to do all the talking for them.
But they used to "make believe" the dollies talked, and this did just as well. They used to say just such things as the ladies did who called on Mrs. Green, and never left without being urged to stay longer, and also to call again; which they always promised to do.
On the whole, they were very wonderful dollies; at least they were until Lady Jane came, and she was such a fine lady, with her white silk dress and her _real_ hair, that none of them could shine after that.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Miss f.a.n.n.y and others.]
II.