LIVE DOLL

JOHN AND CHARLES MONKEY,
LONDON:

P. T. Barnum & Co.

One Little Baby

S. A.

[.88]

## THE LIVE DOLL.

Two little girls, about seven years old, named Jenny and Bessy, sat down together to talk. Jenny was going home from school. She stopped at Bessy's home to rest herself. Bessy was sitting by the door on her little stool, with some hemming. I think it was a handkerchief for her mother. This is what they talked about.

Jenny. Bessy, how hard you are at work!

Bessy. This is the first handkerchief I ever hemmed all round

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**Jenny.** Have you done it without taking out any stitches?

**Bessy.** Oh, there were some long ones, and some too close together. I know they would have been unpicked at school. But mother says the handkerchief is old, and would not bear it; so I must take more pains.

**Jenny.** Can I help you?

**Bessy.** Here is another. Will you turn down the hem for me, and will you thread my needle when I want it, and then I shall get on quicker?

**Jenny.** Can I have Tom's stool, and sit by you?

**Bessy.** Yes, do, and then we can talk; and you look as if you had something to tell me.

**Jenny.** I came to tell you something. Bessy, you cannot guess what I shall have to show you when you come up our way?

**Bessy.** I dare say your father brought you a new doll from the fair.

**Jenny.** No, you are out. Guess again.

**Bessy.** Oh, perhaps Sally's hen has got a brood of little chickens. Tell her not to forget that she promised I should have one for my own.

**Jenny.** You may let that be, Bessy. There are no chickens yet.

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**Bessy.** Oh, you are going to have a new frock; but I do not think your best frock is much worn.

**Jenny.** No, so I do not want one, and I am not going to have one. Guess again.

**Bessy.** How can I guess? Come, tell me, Jenny, tell me quick.

**Jenny.** Well, what do you think of a live doll?

**Bessy.** There is no such thing, Jenny; that is nonsense.

**Jenny.** Well, then, it is something better: and yet we do call it our live doll. Bessy, it is a real baby that mother has got. Oh, so much better than a doll! It can move its little hands and feet, and open its eyes, and feed, and cry, and laugh—no, it cannot laugh yet.

**Bessy.** No, I can tell you, you must not expect that yet. Our little one was a baby last year.

**Jenny.** Oh; how long was it before it could laugh?

**Bessy.** I cannot tell. I cannot quite remember when Willie first laughed. But I am glad you have got one. I remember Willie, so I can tell you all about babies.

**Jenny.** Oh, mother knows about them, and sister Sally remembers us all, so

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she can wash and dress this one. She
was not afraid to touch it. I was afraid
at first; I thought I might break it.

*Bessy.* And if you had dropped it you
might have hurt it. But have you
held it?

*Jenny.* Yes, this morning. I sat down
on my little stool, and Sally put it in
my lap. Then it began to cry. Sally
said I squeezed it; so I did, for fear it
should roll off. But Sally said it was
not strong enough to roll, or move its
little body.

*Bessy.* Is it a boy or a girl?

*Jenny.* Oh, a little girl. And now I
am so old, I shall be able to teach her
a good deal. I shall begin with her
prayers; and I have got an A, B, C,
book; and I hope she will like saying
Hymns. I shall teach her some of
mine before I go to school in the morn-
ing.

*Bessy.* Dear me, Jenny, you need
not be in such a hurry; our Willie is
a year and a half old, and he cannot
speak yet.

*Jenny.* Yes, I know I shall have to
wait, but there is no harm, is there, in
thinking what I can do for baby by-
and-bye? You will teach Willie, shall
you not?

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*Bessy.* Oh, yes; I have taught him
now to put his little hands together
when we say our prayers; and he
knows he is not to laugh. But your baby
will be troublesome sometimes, I can
tell you that.

*Jenny.* Yes, I know they will cry and
scream sometimes.

*Bessy.* And when they are ill, poor
little things, they cannot say what is
the matter; and then, to be sure, they
are just about cross!

*Jenny.* But your mother does not
scold Willie, I suppose?

*Bessy.* No, poor little lamb, he knows
no better. When he was so bad with
his teeth, how he did cry and scream!
Mother used to be up half the night,
walking up and down the room to quiet
him—and all in the cold weather. Fa-
ther and she hardly got any rest.

*Jenny.* Was she sorry to have the
baby then?

*Bessy.* Oh no, Jenny. She said she
grudged no trouble or pain, if it should
please God to spare his little life. And
I think he was hardly ever out of her
arms. The doctor said he was kept
alive by mother's great care.

*Jenny.* And then he got strong.

*Bessy.* After that, I think, he learned

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to laugh. And mother was so pleased
when he began to enjoy himself. And
then he would come to me. Was not I
proud when Willie would come to no-
body but mother and me!

Jenny. And his father?

Bessy. Oh yes, he would always go
to father; he seemed to look so at him
when he came home at night.

Jenny. I hope our baby will not have
to go through all that your Willie had.

Bessy, (laughing.) Why, Jenny, she
must have teeth, I suppose.

Jenny. Ah, but I mean, not to be so
bad with them.

Bessy. Oh no, I hope not. But I
think we are fonder of Willie because of
the trouble there was to rear him.

Jenny. Here comes Sally, to call for
me to go home. She has been to the
Squire's for some broth for mother.
Sally, what have you got in that hand-
kerchief?

Sally. This is a piece of print that the
housekeeper gave me. She said you
might try your hand upon making a
little frock for baby of it.

Jenny, (clapping her hands.) Oh, that I
will. But, Sally, I could not cut it out.

Sally. No; you could not do that yet
or a doll, much less for our live doll.

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Mother will do that now she can sit up,
and then you can take it to school.

Jenny. How all the girls in my class
will stare! But I suppose they will
guess. I think everybody must know
about our baby.

Sally. They have babies enough out
in that part. We must not expect they
will think about our baby as we do.

Jenny. Oh, they could not have it, if
they wanted it ever so. There are plenty
of us to feed, to be sure; but when I
am old enough I shall work, and earn
money for baby.

Bessy. What is her name to be?

Sally. Ah, that is what we talked of
last night after the little ones were in
bed. Father got down the Bible to
look for a name. But it is not settled
yet. At least, it is a secret, if it is.

Jenny. Oh, that is a secret mother
will tell me. I want to call her by her
name.

Sally. She has no real name till she
is christened, so she must be baby
now.

Jenny. I want so much to see her
again, let us go now. And, Bessy, you
must come to see her. Bessy has been
telling me of all the trouble her mother
had with Willie.

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*Sally*. I hope ours will do better, but
mother would take as much pains with
her baby. So she did with us when we
were ill.

*Jenny*. A great deal of work mother
had with us all.

*Sally*. So the least we can do is to
work as much as we can for her.

*Jenny*. Oh, as for doing things for
baby, I like it ten times better than
play.

*Sally*. Ah, but we must work to help
father and mother, whether we like it
better than play or not.

*Jenny*. Yes; that is keeping the
Fifth Commandment.

Good bye, Bessy, come soon to see
the baby.

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.