The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-05-14
SOME QUEER DOLLiES.

ahead.
| And keep this great world agoing.
Frank II. stauffcr. IN Golden Days.
SOME QUEER DOLLlES.
The Hany Wonderful Things That Mar
joric and Kathrinc Use for Babies.
| II a convention Of all the dollics in
the United States. from Upper NADIA
was!Sa in Maine To CLAY in California.
should be held some fine day. what
wonderful crowd Of cripples would come
together.
There would be thousands and tens
of thousands Of dollies who had lost
their heads, and hundreds Of thousands
who hadn't any arms or legs. and ever
SO many who had only their bodies left
to show that they were really dollics
/ For you know dolly is never dead un-
til there is nothing left of her or him
!! No doubt they feel better and enjoy life
more when they are whole. but no one
ever heard a dolly complain because
head or an arm or a leg was missing.
SO you see they would all go to the
great meeting, and among them all
there would be no quecrer dollics than
those Marjorie and kathrinc play
with. ard dress and undrcss. and sing
to sleep. and stand in the corner when
they are naughty, and take out walk
ing when they are good. and seem to
treat with SO much affection that
anyone but papa and a mamma
would be jealous of them, and perhaps
do them an injury. Marjorie and
kathrine are two very little girls
who live on Staten Island near
New York city. They can see from
their papa's porch all the great ocean
steamers and the ships from all parts
of the world coming into and going out
from New York bay. but they are too
little to care much about the ships. and
SO they devote all their time to their
queer dollies.
All of Marjorie's dollies are named
Bessie, and all of Katirine's are named
Susie. Their papa has given other
names TO the dollies. but the little girls
don't pay any attention to that. What
do papas know about dollics. anyhow?
Still, he has given names to them. and
here they are:
MARJoRIEts DoLLIEs. kaTHRINE's DoLLIEs.
Bessie Hot water bag. susie kind,ing Wood.
BESSIE Poker. Susie Ciothesgin.
Bessie Towels. susie Trowel
Bessie Potato Washer. Susie Wooden spoon.
and Tommy.
Tommy doesn't belong to either of
the little girls. Tommy doesn't belong
Ia anybody. lie is one of the family.
lie is dolly. to be sure. bu: he is SO
independent and is such ragainuifin
that nobody cares to own him, ana he
wouldn't belong to anybody II he had
the chance. lie lounges around the
house all day and watches Marjorie and
kathrine playing with their queer dol
lies. and he makes believe that he
doesn't care to be played with at all.
Tommy is almost as Old us Mar
iorje, who is four. and he is
older than kathrine. who is two
and half. He looks a good deal older.
though. than he really is. lie is rag
dolly. and in his extreme youth he had
a beautiful pink complexion. but he is
sunburned now. or something. for he is
as brown as Il South Sea Islander.
Tommy has been through good deal
of trouble. lie has lost his head and
They have always been scwed on again.
but it isn't pleasant even to lose them
for Il short while. Then he has been
left out in the garden all night in the
rain more than once, and Duke, the biz:
dog that lives next door. has worried
him and shaken him in the most heart
less way. And one time Marjorie
buried Tommy in the sand on the beach
and wen: away and forgot him. The
tide came up and covered him and went
away again three or four times, and
Tommy would have been lost forever
had not Marioric's papa happened to
see his arm sticking up ont of the beach
one day and rescued him. Yes, Tommy.
has certainly had his share OF trouble.
But this story is not about Tommy:
it is about the queer dollies whose
names are either Bessie or Susie, ac-
cording to which little girl has them.
No one would ever take them for dol
lies at all. They don't look like the
dollies which are sold in shops. They
look like hair brushes, and whisls
brooms. and po!ters, and wooden spoons,
and other useful things. and that is
what anyone except Marjorie and kath-
rine would suppose they really were.
But the little girls know better, and Sd
they dress them up in dollies' clothes
and rock them to sleep, and sing t.
them, and play tea party with them all
day long, and they love them just as
much as they would if they had real
hair and red checks and eyes that really
and truly open and shut. Indeed, they
| love them more. for when the little
girls papa bought them some dollies
that came all the way from Paris and
were as pretty as pictures. the little
girls only played with them for day or
| two: then they went back to their Bes-
sizes and Susies.
And now the papa is very much pnz-
zlcd to know what to do. ~ he po1es
the fire. Marjorie looks grieved and
says: Don't put poor Bessie in the
fire, papa" And if he starts To brush
his hair. kathrinc puts out her lower
lip and says: II want my Susie"
What is papa TO do in such eases? lie
does not want to build a fire with dol
lies, nor to brush his clothes. nor to dig
in the garden with them. Bat how is
| he 10 KNOW WHcH he - uStHS a. ooily
and when he is not? The little girls
mamma laughs at him, and tells him
that it does not matter. Hut he knows
that it does matter to Marjorie and TO
kathriEe. And then no one wants to
mash potatoes with dolly Or to brush
his clothes with one. That is ridic,,-
lous way to use dollics. 1t is not what
they are for.
DO you wonder that papa is puzzled!
} N. A. Jennings, in Harper, Young
J People.
WHAT BUNJER THINKS.
Clie QuietIng Effect of n Small SIucaky
! Voice on a had Little Girl.