The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-02-05


cry out with indescribable anguish: mo,
do not want you to die, even to 60 to
Heaven"
She never spoke of her mother to her
nurse; but sometimes, when she thought
herself alone, they would hear her MUIR
mur to her DOLL "If mamma would come
back Mini would be WE'LL
In the village the arrival of the talk
ing doll had produced great sensation.
All the children wished to see it, and
Sunday most of the little girls came to
admire the marvellous toy.
To go to see the little girl from
Paris and hear her doll talk had become
a sort of fete, and then, Mini was so
sweet, so caressing to all who showed
friendship for her, or who loved her doll,
that she had become the idol of the
whole village.
The vicar came to relate to her beau
tiful stories of Heaven, where there
lived a mamma marvelously beautiful
and adorably good.
The good sister who had charge of the
NIIidSC >Shocl llO uCl l1pGlC lludScO
of saints and angels.
One of Minis greatest pleasures was to
see all her little friends come with their
dolls-dolls of wood, of cardboard, of
rags; but She thought them all charm
ing, and talked to them in the most de-
lighttul manner and as if they could I'M
derstand her, and replied to her.
The 18th of August was the dolls
birthday, and all the little girls came
with their dolls and brought the doll
Mini bouquet, and one also for the
real Mini. What merry day it was for
them all!
The bed was covered with flowers, and
the doll was so happy that she said
again and again: Mammal"
Alas! the care of Mother Gerard, the
love and caresses of all, the healthful
air of the country, had been able only
to prolong the days of the little sufferer,
but all together were not able to cure
her.
They began to count the weeks then
the days that she could be with them
''She is very i'll, mammals Mini" she
said, caressing the doll. ''She suffers
greatly there" added she, touching the
dolls chest.
One evening she sat up suddenly,
seized her doll in both arms, looked at
it with yearning, shining eyes, and
tried to press the spring. The sound
came feebly, and weakly articulated:
Mamma"
The child repeated "Mamma" with
voice still more feeble, and fell back on
her pillow, but still clasping her doll.
She was dead.
And singular as it may seem, the
spring in the doll was broken, the doll
too, was dead!
During all the next day the two Minis,
the two little dead bodies, were left with
uncovered faces, surrounded with the
last flowers of autumn, white and yell
low, mingled with branches of red
leaves.
When they dressed little Mini for the
last time they found that they would
have to use much force to take the doll
from her grasp. Mother Gerard would
not permit it, She kissed the child
once more, and, without trying to &C
count for the strange impulse, she kissed
the doll also. Both were put into the
coffin, with all that belonged to them
dresses and bonnets, little shoes and
stockings, and playthings of all sorts.
Then upon the bier, carried by the
strongest little girls of the village
alas. it was not very heavy-they put
all the flowers they could find; and it
was the strangest funeral that one could
imagine. All the little girls of the
school marched behind, two by two,
holding their dolls; and on the way
they were joined by others, and each
new arrival had her doll. Those who
had two dolls gave one to those who had
none. All the dolls were dressed in
their finest clothes.
When they arrived at the cemetery
the children found crowd around the
grave, with their dolls in their arms.
and listened to the last prayer for poor
Mini. Among the children who had
come to bid last farewell to their little
friend and the talking doll-for they re-
GREETED the wonderful doll quite as much
as they did Nini-there was one who
had been particular favorite of the
little invalid.
1t was a sickly little cripple, nearly
her own age, with sorrowful, pale face.
She almost adored the doll, and when
Mini permitted her to rock it she was
perfectly happy. She, like the others,
had doll which she loved devotedly.
No one can know what thought passed
through that little brain, but at the mo-
ment that the sexton threw the first
spadeful of earth upon the coffin she
kissed her doll convulsively and threw
it into the grave, saying: go with
Niniw
This impulsive act so impressed the
other children that one after another
followed her example,
1t was touching spectacle.
SEQ with Mini" each little one re-
peated in letting her doll fall into the
grave.
One only drew back unable to make
the sacrifice. She was five years old,
perhaps, the child Of a poor woman.
Her doll WAS Of cardboard, old, dirty and