Los Angeles herald., 1905-04-16
Conversion of
the Dinah Doll

THERE was great excitement in
st. Ursulas School for Girls.
Many feet echoed along the corri-
odrs. Voices called from one room to
another. Doors were hastily opened
and closed, and Miss Fanthorne, the
principal was perfectly distracted.
For Jennie Dearborn's father had
come to see her and was waiting pa
tiently in the reception room. But
Jennie was nowhere to be found.
She had disappeared in the leisure
hour right after Lenten sewing class.
and so had Mary Marcella and Mildred
Alice "And that" said Miss Fan
thorne, "is the very worst feature of it,
am afraid there is some mischief
afoot."
For Mildred Alice had come to the
school from a home in which she was
the only girl in large and lively fam
lily of boys, and, as Miss Fanthorne
had once ventured to mention to her
papa, her ideas of good behavior were
a little overstrenuous for st. Ursula "
The large family of dolls which in
habited the luxurious doll mansion in
Mary Marcella's room were obliged to
remain perfectly rigid when Miss Fan
thorne opened the door to look for
their mistress. 1t was very hard for
them to obey this rule of the doll
kingdom, for they had seen it all and
could have told perfectly we'll what
had happened to the three little girls
Miss Fanchon. the French doll, was
especially indignant. A beautiful new
Partisan hat mad just been finished for
her, and Jennie and Mary Marcella
were arranging her hair so that it
might be most becoming when Mildred
Alice bounced into the room.
She looked with disfavor on the
adornment of Miss Fanchon. "Do you
think it is right" she asked candidly,
"to play that kind of things in Lent?"
Mary Marcella looked doubtful, and,
If Miss Fanchon could, she would have
cast up her eyes in despair, for every
one knew, that when Mildred Alice
became conscientious it ended in pun
ishment lessons.
"Now. 1 know something that we
Lenty. Come on, get your things and
slip out before they see u.s." com
manded Mildred Alice.
do you have to do it outdoors?"
asked Jennie.
A cold March wind whistled around
the corners of st. Ursula's, and the
river on the bank of which the school
stood was still locked in ice.
YES, indeed" said Mildred Alice,
gleefully. But she did not look at Jen-
ME- she looked very determinedly at
the Dinah doll who was one of the old.
est and most beloved of the doll resi-
dents.
Wen have a conversion" said Mil
dred Alice, land the Dinah doll shall
be the convert"
Mildred Alice was very fond of fine
words, and she did not know that Miss
Fanchon was longing .passionately to
shudder.
"Aud / assure YOU" she confided to
the sympathetic German gentleman
doll, when later they talked it over
among themselves, that Dnah turned
quite pale when the little monster
mentioned it,"
Yes" continued Mildred Alice, de-
lightedly, they dip the people in the
river to convert them, you know, and
just now, when the ice is still there, it
will be perfectly lovely, The conver-
sions are always SO much nicer wher
the water is icy'
"Dinah," she exclaimed ecstatically
hugging the placid old colored doll
"you are just the very thing"
you know" she explained to Mar.
celia and Jennie, they always convert
the colored people that way. Wei
take Dinah right down to the river
and have it all over before it gets
! dark"
| "And So" explained Miss Fanchon
| for the benefit of the india rubber doll
who had been asleep during the visi
of Mildred Alice, "and so they marched
off with poor Dinah, and l suppos'
( they are now immersing her in tn,
river. She will be mere rag, o
course, when she gets out, and l don
believe shell ever be strong enough L
hold up her head again"
Listen" said the Young Brave o
the Wabash, as the Indian doll 1
called. "you did not hear what | SAT-
to the Dnsh squaw as she was carries
away. 1 told her TO leave trail be