October 1, 2025 • 20 mins
In this enchanting tale, a doll gifted to a young girl on her birthday embarks on a heartfelt journey filled with adventures and missteps, all in a quest to earn the love of her new mother. Join her as she navigates the challenges of acceptance and belonging. - Summary by Emma Hatton
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter one of the Diary of a Birthday Doll by
Ethel Doo. This is a libriyvox recording. All libraryvox recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit libryvox dot org. It's Monday night, and I
suppose it must be about half past eight o'clock. For
just half an hour ago I heard Grandma Ellis call
(00:20):
up to the nursery where Mamma Lucy was busy kissing
Maud and Gladdie's finish, saying good night to your dolls,
and then the nurse will put you to bed. You
know it is your bedtime, Dear Maud and Glattis told
me only to day that Mamma Lucy's bedtime is always
eight o'clock, excepting on her birthday, when Grandma Ellis gives
her another hour as an extra birthday present, and poor
(00:42):
Mamma lou is always so sleepy that she can only
use half of it. Mamma Lucy must be in bed now,
and Maud and Gladdies are fast asleep, for their heads
are bent back the least little bit they were made
that way. I hardly believe that I would like to
be a sleeping doll. It must be so very unpleasant
to have to go to sleep, whether you're sleepy or not.
(01:03):
It would make me quite dizzy, I know, to be
clicked out of conversation and then suddenly clicked into a
conversation without any warning, sometimes twelve or twenty times in
one hour, and so much sleep must make a doll stupid.
Though I wouldn't say a word against Maud and glads,
who have been very kind and polite to me. Besides,
(01:23):
I must not forget that I would have been a
sleeping doll myself if it hadn't been for the accident
that happened to me when I was quite complete, and
most likely i'd be much happier now if I were
what I was intended to be. Indeed, I am not
at all happy, though no one could tell from my face.
For one of the first duties that a doll has
to learn before she goes out into the world is
(01:46):
to keep all the same, calm, quiet expressions through all
sorrows and all joys. Everything is quiet and dark. Now.
I wonder if my Mama lou is dreaming. I wonder
if she's dreaming of me, silly child that I am.
Of course she isn't. Didn't she say that she didn't
like me the very first minute she saw me? Haven't
I been here for two whole days and three long
(02:08):
dark nights? And has she given me so much as
a good night kiss? If she's dreaming of anyone, she's
dreaming of Gladdies and mod, Oh, Gladdy's and mod. How
lucky you are? I wonder if you appreciate your good fortune.
But I'm not the least bit jealous. I'm not, I'm not.
(02:29):
It's horrid to be jealous. Only only I wish Mama
Lou would love me too. If I were a little
girl made of flesh and blood and feeling as sad
as I do now, I'd be crying out loud this
very second. But I'm only a bisk doll made of
hard plaster, and there's not a single drop of water
in me to spare for one little tear. Anyhow, it
(02:52):
would be quite impossible for a real living girl to
have my troubles, because there's not a single child in
this wide world that isn't loved and hugged by its mother. Well,
my mama, my mama. Oh. I hate to say it,
but really and truly, and maud and Gladys thinks so too.
Mama Lou is not so sweet and kind to me
(03:13):
as she might be. It certainly is dark and quiet
here in the nursery. I have nothing to do but
just lie flat on my back and stare up at
the ceiling and think and think and think. I wonder
if it could be possible for a teddy bear to
get wild in the night time and break out of
the little trunk that my Mama Lucy has locked him in. Oh, dear,
(03:36):
I wish I had thought of that. I'm really getting frightened.
Wouldn't it just be dreadful? I wish I could wake
mad and Gladdies. I'm awful scared lying here in the dark.
He might catch me by the hair and scratch me
with his claws. Oh oh oh, but he is too
much of a gentleman to be so rude. I'm sure
(03:56):
he is. Teddy Teddy. Aren't you too much of it,
gentleman to scratch me? Teddy Teddy? I'll just ask him
to make sure, Teddy, Teddy Teddy. He won't answer me,
and I'm so much interested in him. Mama Lou isn't
kind to him either, poor Teddy Teddy Teddy Teddy Bear. No,
(04:19):
he won't answer Glattie's And Maud told me today that
he would never speak. But if he knew how miserable
I am, I'm sure he Teddy Teddy, No, he won't answer.
And I've just got to lie here lonely and think
and think. I wonder how I'd be feeling right now
(04:39):
if I hadn't had that accident before I was complete.
It certainly was careless of that girl over at the
factory to give me one blue eye and one brown
eye instead of a pair of the same color. How
all the girls working with her laughed when they saw me.
That was my first embarrassment. I get hot all over
(04:59):
whenever I think of it. I was supposed to have
eyes that would open and close, But by the time
she had corrected her mistake and fixed me with a
decent pair of blue ones, she had poured so much
mucilage into my head that my eyes were stuck in
tight forever. I was rather confused at the time and
didn't quite know what was happening. It was only a
(05:21):
long time after lying in the darkness of a narrow
cardboard box in the toy store, thinking, thinking, and waiting
to be sold that I understood the girl had changed
my character completely. Instead of an aristocratic sleeper, I had
become an ordinary wide awaker, Not that I mind it
in the least, and I'm sure that a sleeper could
(05:43):
not be nearly so clever as a wide awaker. But
when I'm lying here all alone in the dark, I
sometimes think that it would be sweet to close my
eyes for a second, just forget that I'm a mistake,
and that my Mama Alieu does not love me, and
she would love me if I were a sleeper. She
as much as said so when she first saw me.
It was last Saturday, wasn't it that Mamma Lucy's uncle
(06:06):
Harry bought me and took me away from the store.
He is my great uncle, Harry Ellis, of course, though
I didn't know the relationship nor his name. Then I
was glad to get away, even though I had had
quite pleasant times there. Because I'm always anxious for something new,
I could always hear what was said, and oh the
funny remarks that I did hear. I'll have enough to
(06:29):
do for the rest of my life just remembering the
odd things that had happened in the store. It was
about half past seven o'clock in the evening when I
heard Uncle Harry's voice saying, I'll take a doll please, Yes, sir,
blue eyes or brown eyes? Which style would you like
me to show you? Oh? Any doll will do blue eyes.
I guess you needn't bother about showing it to me.
(06:51):
I don't intend to nurse it myself. Just wrap it
up for me, and that will do. All dolls look
alike to me. I heard a laugh and the store
keeper's answer. The young ladies managed to find quite a difference, sir.
And just as I was wondering who would be chosen,
I was whisked box and all off my shelf, and
Uncle Harry was carrying me head downwards at a quick
(07:14):
trot in the cold night air away to my new home.
I was quite dizzy at the end of a few minutes,
and nearly fainted before the walk was over. How strange
it is that people cannot understand that carrying a doll
upside down upsets her stomach dreadfully. Now, Uncle Harry, Maud
and Gladys told me is supposed to be very clever
(07:35):
and is even going to be a doctor next June.
Yet for over ten minutes he persisted in swinging me
by the feet. A nice doctor he'll make. But I'm
not angry at Uncle Harry. He's only one of those
dozens and dozens that think a doll has no feelings,
no feelings, ha ha, Oh, Mamma lou maybe you think
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I have no feelings last Saturday night when you clapped
your hands with delight at Uncle Harry's jolly news I've
bought you a doll, Lucy, and then sobbed as soon
as you had seen me. Oh, oh, oh, I don't
like her. Look at the funny eye she's got and
she can't even close them. I don't want a doll
that's not a sleeper, Uncle Harry, and oh she's not
(08:19):
a bit pretty. I have no feelings. I have no feelings.
If you had only known how I felt, Lucy's mama,
my Grandma Ellis said, sharply, sh Lucy, that isn't nice
of you. If you talk like that, you will hurt
your uncle Harry's feelings. Grandma Ellis is very sweet, but
(08:39):
it never struck her that Mamma lu was hurting my feelings. Oh,
nobody ever think of a doll's feelings, and she has
no clothes. Mamma Lucy screamed, I don't want a dolly
that has no clothes. That's right, said Uncle Harry. She
has no clothes. I never noticed that. Then I took
a peep around the room and saw him standing by
(09:01):
the fireplace, scratching the back of his neck and looking
very red and foolish, even though he is so clever,
and that he will be a doctor by next June.
I saw Grandpa Elis, a very handsome man about thirty
years old, laughing in a corner and shaking his finger
at Uncle Harry, and Grandma Ellis, a sweet looking woman
with golden hair and blue eyes, who was holding me
(09:22):
on her arm and my Mama Leo on her lap,
saying why she's a mighty pretty doll. Lucy, No, don't
be naughty. Go over to Uncle Harry and tell him
that it was very sweet of him to think of you.
Go over, dear and thank him nicely. And then my
dear Mamma Lucy cuddled her head into Grandma's neck, just
the way I'd like to cuddle into my Mama's round,
(09:45):
white little neck. Sniff three times oh, she's got the
cutest little turned up nose to sniff with. Went very
very slowly over to Uncle Harry, said thank you, Uncle Harry.
I guess thanks Uncle Harry, and then she ran very
quickly over to her papa, and he took her on
(10:06):
his lap and kissed her. Mama lu went to bed
in about ten minutes after that, and she carried me
upstairs into the nursery. In the long dark box, how
I felt that Saturday night. I wouldn't want the meanest
little doll on earth to feel one hundredth part as
sad as I felt, not even for the one hundredth
(10:26):
part of a second. It's not my fault. I have
queer eyes. I sobbed. Please don't be angry at me,
Mama Lou, and again and again in the darkness of
the box, please don't be angry at me. I'm so sorry.
I'm a disappointment. Let me see, yesterday was a Sunday,
wasn't it. And it was yesterday that I had that
(10:48):
unpleasant bath. I was just saying, I'm so sorry for
maybe the fifty millionth time you can say please don't
be angry at me. A great many times in one night,
if you can keep at it steadily and don't take
too many long breaths between Once. Suddenly I felt the
lid of the box being taken off. A beam of
(11:08):
sunlight flashed into my eyes, and I saw my darling
Mama loo in her without a petticoat, looking down at me. Oh,
but I was glad for the moment that I wasn't
a sleeping doll, for had I been and lying flat
on my back with closed eyes, I couldn't have seen
her so quickly. She took me around the waist and
(11:29):
looked at me very carefully and said, very very slowly, Well,
I don't think you'd be so bad if only you
wouldn't stare so Now, listen, Dolly. I'm going to call
you just Dolly until I make up my mind what
your name is going to be. We are all going
out to Grandma's today, my great grandma, I said to myself,
(11:52):
and I want to take you along with me to
see how you behave in company. I'll ask Gladdie's to
lend you her pink ribbon and pink dres and I
guess i'll give you a bath. Gladdies, I thought, Who's that?
She put me back in the box, and I was
quite happy. Of course, she's going to love me, I
said to myself. She was sleepy last night and didn't
(12:14):
know what she was saying. She's so sweet and she
loves everybody. I'm sure. I couldn't see anything except a
patch of ceiling just over my head, but I heard
the rattling of porcelain bowls and the splash of water,
and the opening of drawers, and Mama lu saying, oh,
nurse will be angry that I've wet the carpet, and
(12:34):
the plushing of chairs, and I guess that Mama Lucy
was preparing a bath for me. It must have been
very very early. Even the servants were it up yet
for accepting the noises that Mamma lu had made. The
house was perfectly still. Soon she came up to me
with a towel tucked about her waist, saying, oh my,
that bowl was heavy. Now, Dolly, don't cry, take your
(12:57):
bath like a lady cry. I was too happy to
say a word. She picked me up and threw me
over her shoulder, carried me over to my tub, a
bowl half filled with water, resting on a great green
wooden chair, and then I'm not in vain, and I'm
not so perfectly wild overclothes as some dolls are. But
(13:17):
at that moment I almost fell out of my mama's
arms in delight, for hanging over the back of the
great green chair was the sweetest pink Mother Hubbard dress,
with white frills at the neck and sleeves. And oh
how often I have longed for just such a neat
little gown. Mamma Luke slipped a pink ribbon under some
(13:38):
of my hair and tied a bow. It's not nice
to be in vain, but I certainly did feel proud.
Then she held me up in front of her, screwed
her mouth towards the right side, half closed her right eye,
and said, you'll do. Pink is your little girl's color,
that's certain. Whatever did she mean by that? Maybe the
dressmaker or nurse once said to her Anda Ellis about
(14:01):
my mama, lou one two three. My mama kept on,
and indeed I listened carefully. In you go into the tub,
and in a second, from ribs to knees I was
covered in icy water. She threw me in so quickly,
and the shock was so great that I couldn't help splashing,
and great drops fell onto her bare little legs. Oh
(14:24):
you naughty, she cried, Ah, it's cold. She let go
of me suddenly to stretch out her hand for the towel.
Of course, I lost my balance. I haven't had much
practice at sitting, and toppled right over. My hair dipped
deep into the water, and my soak ribbon, my pretty
pink silk hair ribbon, got soaking wet. Oh, oh, cried Mamma,
(14:46):
lou you naughty child. What have you done? There's poor
Gladdy's prettiest ribbon just ruined. That's not the way to
make your sisters love you, to go and spoil their
pretty ribbons that they lend you. I'm so, I'm simply
surprised at you, and I'm awfully afraid that you're going
to be a naughty child. Oh how ashamed I did feel.
(15:08):
But it really wasn't my fault. I was not to blame,
was I if I hadn't been taught to sit up
like a lady? Do I think my mama needn't have
scolding me quite so much? Because it was bad enough
for me to know that my very first ribbon I
ever put on was simply ruined, and to feel my
hair all grumpy and pasty sticking out of my wet neck.
(15:31):
If it hadn't been for the peeps that I got
from that pretty pink mother Hubbard, i'd had felt perfectly miserable.
I don't know what to do with you, said Mama
lu very strictly, but I suppose I'll have to forgive you. Now,
do sit up and behave yourself. And if you get
some soap in your eyes, just remember that soap in
the eyes is good for the stomach. Nurse says so,
(15:52):
and don't complain, sit still and don't wriggle now there
And in a second I was quite blinded with some
off bidding stuff rubbed all over my face with a sponge.
I had just got my breath back enough to cry out, please,
Mamma lou please hurry, Oh this is simply awful. Please hurry,
please please. When I heard the opening of a door
(16:15):
and a scolding voice, Miss Lucy, I'll tell your mama
on you, what do you mean by getting out of
bed at this hour and messing up the nursery and
not a blessed thing on you'll catch your death of
a cold. Now this wasn't quite true. Mama Lou had
shoes and stockings on, and a shirt and a towel
(16:35):
and ever so many other things. I was the one
that was in danger of catching my death of a cold,
though of course no one ever thought of me. It's
the trial of my life being your nurse, I tell you.
And then the nurse, a big girl, not all sweet
or pretty, rushed up and shook her finger about twenty
times a second, so close to my dear Mama's cute
(16:58):
nose that if the finger had been the least bit longer,
there would have been an awful collision. I'm sure. Look
at what you've done to the chair, cried the nurse.
The soap's gone and taken all the paint off the seat.
No wonder that soap is mean enough for anything, I thought.
And see how you've splashed the carpet. Well, I never now.
(17:20):
You just stand there and don't budge till I come
back with the cloth to wipe it up, and take
care that you don't get into any more mischief. And
she bounced out of the room. I peeped up at
Mamma Lou, Dear Mamma Lou. She was almost crying. One
finger was stuck deep in her mouth. I didn't mean
to do anything wrong, she mumbled, not very plainly, because
(17:41):
the finger blocked the words. And you shouldn't scold, so
you're a mean old thing. So there. Then she turned me,
and you're a mean old thing too, and I'm not
going to take you with me to Grandma's. You don't
know how to behave yourself. Well, I never was so
shocked in my life. What had I done to Mamma lou.
(18:03):
She rubbed the soap quickly off my face. And then
I'm going to put you in your box for punishment
till tomorrow morning and see to it that you don't
get into any more mischief. You're a terrible trial, she said,
all wet and shivering as I was, and without giving
me a chance for one last peep at the gown
(18:23):
I was not to wear, she hurried me into my
box and clapped the lid on. Oh, Mammulu, I said,
again and again and again. I didn't mean to do
anything wrong. You know, it's not my fault. But I
don't call you a mean old thing because you just
didn't think what you were doing. Oh that pretty dress,
what a disappointment. Mamma Lou, how could you treat me so?
(18:48):
And all day long I lay and thought, oh, Mamma Lou,
how could you? That happened yesterday, didn't it? And today, oh, yes, today,
Mamma Lu took me out of my box and induced
me to Gladdy's and Mad. They sleep in one bed,
and she put me between them to get acquaintanced. She
said that was thoughtful of Mama Lou. Mad and Gladdy's
(19:11):
are really very sweet tempered, and no wonder that Mama
likes them. She propped them up on pillows to keep
them awake. And from half past eight when she left
for school, till half past two when she came home,
those girls did nothing but talk. I know everything about everyone,
my what heaps and heaps of stuff they didn't rattle
(19:32):
off into my ears. And I was feeling so sad
all the time, just because Mamma Lu had kissed them
before she left and had only said now be good
to me before goodbye. Even Gladdies and Maud thought it
was rather mean of her, And I must say, oh, well,
it's not nice to complain. And I tried hard not
(19:53):
to feel hurt when she tucked Maud and Gladdy's in
so lovingly tonight and said to me, now be sure
you don't disturbed them. She stayed in the nursery only
a short while after school, and just ran in after
supper again to sake ad night. I have a cold,
she told us, and Mama wants me to stay near
her all the time to be sure that I don't
(20:13):
catch another. I do hope that the water I splashed
on her yesterday didn't give it to her. Poor Mamma.
Her little nose was very so red and swollen. I
believe that I'm tired of thinking. I wish Teddy, but
there was no use calling him. I'm sure he won't answer. Teddy, Teddy,
I say, Teddy. No, Oh, dear, I think I'll begin
(20:39):
to count to make the night pass quickly. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
End of chapter one
Chapter one of the Diary of a Birthday Doll by
Ethel Doo. This is a libriyvox recording. All libraryvox recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit libryvox dot org. It's Monday night, and I
suppose it must be about half past eight o'clock. For
just half an hour ago I heard Grandma Ellis call
(00:20):
up to the nursery where Mamma Lucy was busy kissing
Maud and Gladdie's finish, saying good night to your dolls,
and then the nurse will put you to bed. You
know it is your bedtime, Dear Maud and Glattis told
me only to day that Mamma Lucy's bedtime is always
eight o'clock, excepting on her birthday, when Grandma Ellis gives
her another hour as an extra birthday present, and poor
(00:42):
Mamma lou is always so sleepy that she can only
use half of it. Mamma Lucy must be in bed now,
and Maud and Gladdies are fast asleep, for their heads
are bent back the least little bit they were made
that way. I hardly believe that I would like to
be a sleeping doll. It must be so very unpleasant
to have to go to sleep, whether you're sleepy or not.
(01:03):
It would make me quite dizzy, I know, to be
clicked out of conversation and then suddenly clicked into a
conversation without any warning, sometimes twelve or twenty times in
one hour, and so much sleep must make a doll stupid.
Though I wouldn't say a word against Maud and glads,
who have been very kind and polite to me. Besides,
(01:23):
I must not forget that I would have been a
sleeping doll myself if it hadn't been for the accident
that happened to me when I was quite complete, and
most likely i'd be much happier now if I were
what I was intended to be. Indeed, I am not
at all happy, though no one could tell from my face.
For one of the first duties that a doll has
to learn before she goes out into the world is
(01:46):
to keep all the same, calm, quiet expressions through all
sorrows and all joys. Everything is quiet and dark. Now.
I wonder if my Mama lou is dreaming. I wonder
if she's dreaming of me, silly child that I am.
Of course she isn't. Didn't she say that she didn't
like me the very first minute she saw me? Haven't
I been here for two whole days and three long
(02:08):
dark nights? And has she given me so much as
a good night kiss? If she's dreaming of anyone, she's
dreaming of Gladdies and mod, Oh, Gladdy's and mod. How
lucky you are? I wonder if you appreciate your good fortune.
But I'm not the least bit jealous. I'm not, I'm not.
(02:29):
It's horrid to be jealous. Only only I wish Mama
Lou would love me too. If I were a little
girl made of flesh and blood and feeling as sad
as I do now, I'd be crying out loud this
very second. But I'm only a bisk doll made of
hard plaster, and there's not a single drop of water
in me to spare for one little tear. Anyhow, it
(02:52):
would be quite impossible for a real living girl to
have my troubles, because there's not a single child in
this wide world that isn't loved and hugged by its mother. Well,
my mama, my mama. Oh. I hate to say it,
but really and truly, and maud and Gladys thinks so too.
Mama Lou is not so sweet and kind to me
(03:13):
as she might be. It certainly is dark and quiet
here in the nursery. I have nothing to do but
just lie flat on my back and stare up at
the ceiling and think and think and think. I wonder
if it could be possible for a teddy bear to
get wild in the night time and break out of
the little trunk that my Mama Lucy has locked him in. Oh, dear,
(03:36):
I wish I had thought of that. I'm really getting frightened.
Wouldn't it just be dreadful? I wish I could wake
mad and Gladdies. I'm awful scared lying here in the dark.
He might catch me by the hair and scratch me
with his claws. Oh oh oh, but he is too
much of a gentleman to be so rude. I'm sure
(03:56):
he is. Teddy Teddy. Aren't you too much of it,
gentleman to scratch me? Teddy Teddy? I'll just ask him
to make sure, Teddy, Teddy Teddy. He won't answer me,
and I'm so much interested in him. Mama Lou isn't
kind to him either, poor Teddy Teddy Teddy Teddy Bear. No,
(04:19):
he won't answer Glattie's And Maud told me today that
he would never speak. But if he knew how miserable
I am, I'm sure he Teddy Teddy, No, he won't answer.
And I've just got to lie here lonely and think
and think. I wonder how I'd be feeling right now
(04:39):
if I hadn't had that accident before I was complete.
It certainly was careless of that girl over at the
factory to give me one blue eye and one brown
eye instead of a pair of the same color. How
all the girls working with her laughed when they saw me.
That was my first embarrassment. I get hot all over
(04:59):
whenever I think of it. I was supposed to have
eyes that would open and close, But by the time
she had corrected her mistake and fixed me with a
decent pair of blue ones, she had poured so much
mucilage into my head that my eyes were stuck in
tight forever. I was rather confused at the time and
didn't quite know what was happening. It was only a
(05:21):
long time after lying in the darkness of a narrow
cardboard box in the toy store, thinking, thinking, and waiting
to be sold that I understood the girl had changed
my character completely. Instead of an aristocratic sleeper, I had
become an ordinary wide awaker, Not that I mind it
in the least, and I'm sure that a sleeper could
(05:43):
not be nearly so clever as a wide awaker. But
when I'm lying here all alone in the dark, I
sometimes think that it would be sweet to close my
eyes for a second, just forget that I'm a mistake,
and that my Mama Alieu does not love me, and
she would love me if I were a sleeper. She
as much as said so when she first saw me.
It was last Saturday, wasn't it that Mamma Lucy's uncle
(06:06):
Harry bought me and took me away from the store.
He is my great uncle, Harry Ellis, of course, though
I didn't know the relationship nor his name. Then I
was glad to get away, even though I had had
quite pleasant times there. Because I'm always anxious for something new,
I could always hear what was said, and oh the
funny remarks that I did hear. I'll have enough to
(06:29):
do for the rest of my life just remembering the
odd things that had happened in the store. It was
about half past seven o'clock in the evening when I
heard Uncle Harry's voice saying, I'll take a doll please, Yes, sir,
blue eyes or brown eyes? Which style would you like
me to show you? Oh? Any doll will do blue eyes.
I guess you needn't bother about showing it to me.
(06:51):
I don't intend to nurse it myself. Just wrap it
up for me, and that will do. All dolls look
alike to me. I heard a laugh and the store
keeper's answer. The young ladies managed to find quite a difference, sir.
And just as I was wondering who would be chosen,
I was whisked box and all off my shelf, and
Uncle Harry was carrying me head downwards at a quick
(07:14):
trot in the cold night air away to my new home.
I was quite dizzy at the end of a few minutes,
and nearly fainted before the walk was over. How strange
it is that people cannot understand that carrying a doll
upside down upsets her stomach dreadfully. Now, Uncle Harry, Maud
and Gladys told me is supposed to be very clever
(07:35):
and is even going to be a doctor next June.
Yet for over ten minutes he persisted in swinging me
by the feet. A nice doctor he'll make. But I'm
not angry at Uncle Harry. He's only one of those
dozens and dozens that think a doll has no feelings,
no feelings, ha ha, Oh, Mamma lou maybe you think
(07:56):
I have no feelings last Saturday night when you clapped
your hands with delight at Uncle Harry's jolly news I've
bought you a doll, Lucy, and then sobbed as soon
as you had seen me. Oh, oh, oh, I don't
like her. Look at the funny eye she's got and
she can't even close them. I don't want a doll
that's not a sleeper, Uncle Harry, and oh she's not
(08:19):
a bit pretty. I have no feelings. I have no feelings.
If you had only known how I felt, Lucy's mama,
my Grandma Ellis said, sharply, sh Lucy, that isn't nice
of you. If you talk like that, you will hurt
your uncle Harry's feelings. Grandma Ellis is very sweet, but
(08:39):
it never struck her that Mamma lu was hurting my feelings. Oh,
nobody ever think of a doll's feelings, and she has
no clothes. Mamma Lucy screamed, I don't want a dolly
that has no clothes. That's right, said Uncle Harry. She
has no clothes. I never noticed that. Then I took
a peep around the room and saw him standing by
(09:01):
the fireplace, scratching the back of his neck and looking
very red and foolish, even though he is so clever,
and that he will be a doctor by next June.
I saw Grandpa Elis, a very handsome man about thirty
years old, laughing in a corner and shaking his finger
at Uncle Harry, and Grandma Ellis, a sweet looking woman
with golden hair and blue eyes, who was holding me
(09:22):
on her arm and my Mama Leo on her lap,
saying why she's a mighty pretty doll. Lucy, No, don't
be naughty. Go over to Uncle Harry and tell him
that it was very sweet of him to think of you.
Go over, dear and thank him nicely. And then my
dear Mamma Lucy cuddled her head into Grandma's neck, just
the way I'd like to cuddle into my Mama's round,
(09:45):
white little neck. Sniff three times oh, she's got the
cutest little turned up nose to sniff with. Went very
very slowly over to Uncle Harry, said thank you, Uncle Harry.
I guess thanks Uncle Harry, and then she ran very
quickly over to her papa, and he took her on
(10:06):
his lap and kissed her. Mama lu went to bed
in about ten minutes after that, and she carried me
upstairs into the nursery. In the long dark box, how
I felt that Saturday night. I wouldn't want the meanest
little doll on earth to feel one hundredth part as
sad as I felt, not even for the one hundredth
(10:26):
part of a second. It's not my fault. I have
queer eyes. I sobbed. Please don't be angry at me,
Mama Lou, and again and again in the darkness of
the box, please don't be angry at me. I'm so sorry.
I'm a disappointment. Let me see, yesterday was a Sunday,
wasn't it. And it was yesterday that I had that
(10:48):
unpleasant bath. I was just saying, I'm so sorry for
maybe the fifty millionth time you can say please don't
be angry at me. A great many times in one night,
if you can keep at it steadily and don't take
too many long breaths between Once. Suddenly I felt the
lid of the box being taken off. A beam of
(11:08):
sunlight flashed into my eyes, and I saw my darling
Mama loo in her without a petticoat, looking down at me. Oh,
but I was glad for the moment that I wasn't
a sleeping doll, for had I been and lying flat
on my back with closed eyes, I couldn't have seen
her so quickly. She took me around the waist and
(11:29):
looked at me very carefully and said, very very slowly, Well,
I don't think you'd be so bad if only you
wouldn't stare so Now, listen, Dolly. I'm going to call
you just Dolly until I make up my mind what
your name is going to be. We are all going
out to Grandma's today, my great grandma, I said to myself,
(11:52):
and I want to take you along with me to
see how you behave in company. I'll ask Gladdie's to
lend you her pink ribbon and pink dres and I
guess i'll give you a bath. Gladdies, I thought, Who's that?
She put me back in the box, and I was
quite happy. Of course, she's going to love me, I
said to myself. She was sleepy last night and didn't
(12:14):
know what she was saying. She's so sweet and she
loves everybody. I'm sure. I couldn't see anything except a
patch of ceiling just over my head, but I heard
the rattling of porcelain bowls and the splash of water,
and the opening of drawers, and Mama lu saying, oh,
nurse will be angry that I've wet the carpet, and
(12:34):
the plushing of chairs, and I guess that Mama Lucy
was preparing a bath for me. It must have been
very very early. Even the servants were it up yet
for accepting the noises that Mamma lu had made. The
house was perfectly still. Soon she came up to me
with a towel tucked about her waist, saying, oh my,
that bowl was heavy. Now, Dolly, don't cry, take your
(12:57):
bath like a lady cry. I was too happy to
say a word. She picked me up and threw me
over her shoulder, carried me over to my tub, a
bowl half filled with water, resting on a great green
wooden chair, and then I'm not in vain, and I'm
not so perfectly wild overclothes as some dolls are. But
(13:17):
at that moment I almost fell out of my mama's
arms in delight, for hanging over the back of the
great green chair was the sweetest pink Mother Hubbard dress,
with white frills at the neck and sleeves. And oh
how often I have longed for just such a neat
little gown. Mamma Luke slipped a pink ribbon under some
(13:38):
of my hair and tied a bow. It's not nice
to be in vain, but I certainly did feel proud.
Then she held me up in front of her, screwed
her mouth towards the right side, half closed her right eye,
and said, you'll do. Pink is your little girl's color,
that's certain. Whatever did she mean by that? Maybe the
dressmaker or nurse once said to her Anda Ellis about
(14:01):
my mama, lou one two three. My mama kept on,
and indeed I listened carefully. In you go into the tub,
and in a second, from ribs to knees I was
covered in icy water. She threw me in so quickly,
and the shock was so great that I couldn't help splashing,
and great drops fell onto her bare little legs. Oh
(14:24):
you naughty, she cried, Ah, it's cold. She let go
of me suddenly to stretch out her hand for the towel.
Of course, I lost my balance. I haven't had much
practice at sitting, and toppled right over. My hair dipped
deep into the water, and my soak ribbon, my pretty
pink silk hair ribbon, got soaking wet. Oh, oh, cried Mamma,
(14:46):
lou you naughty child. What have you done? There's poor
Gladdy's prettiest ribbon just ruined. That's not the way to
make your sisters love you, to go and spoil their
pretty ribbons that they lend you. I'm so, I'm simply
surprised at you, and I'm awfully afraid that you're going
to be a naughty child. Oh how ashamed I did feel.
(15:08):
But it really wasn't my fault. I was not to blame,
was I if I hadn't been taught to sit up
like a lady? Do I think my mama needn't have
scolding me quite so much? Because it was bad enough
for me to know that my very first ribbon I
ever put on was simply ruined, and to feel my
hair all grumpy and pasty sticking out of my wet neck.
(15:31):
If it hadn't been for the peeps that I got
from that pretty pink mother Hubbard, i'd had felt perfectly miserable.
I don't know what to do with you, said Mama
lu very strictly, but I suppose I'll have to forgive you. Now,
do sit up and behave yourself. And if you get
some soap in your eyes, just remember that soap in
the eyes is good for the stomach. Nurse says so,
(15:52):
and don't complain, sit still and don't wriggle now there
And in a second I was quite blinded with some
off bidding stuff rubbed all over my face with a sponge.
I had just got my breath back enough to cry out, please,
Mamma lou please hurry, Oh this is simply awful. Please hurry,
please please. When I heard the opening of a door
(16:15):
and a scolding voice, Miss Lucy, I'll tell your mama
on you, what do you mean by getting out of
bed at this hour and messing up the nursery and
not a blessed thing on you'll catch your death of
a cold. Now this wasn't quite true. Mama Lou had
shoes and stockings on, and a shirt and a towel
(16:35):
and ever so many other things. I was the one
that was in danger of catching my death of a cold,
though of course no one ever thought of me. It's
the trial of my life being your nurse, I tell you.
And then the nurse, a big girl, not all sweet
or pretty, rushed up and shook her finger about twenty
times a second, so close to my dear Mama's cute
(16:58):
nose that if the finger had been the least bit longer,
there would have been an awful collision. I'm sure. Look
at what you've done to the chair, cried the nurse.
The soap's gone and taken all the paint off the seat.
No wonder that soap is mean enough for anything, I thought.
And see how you've splashed the carpet. Well, I never now.
(17:20):
You just stand there and don't budge till I come
back with the cloth to wipe it up, and take
care that you don't get into any more mischief. And
she bounced out of the room. I peeped up at
Mamma Lou, Dear Mamma Lou. She was almost crying. One
finger was stuck deep in her mouth. I didn't mean
to do anything wrong, she mumbled, not very plainly, because
(17:41):
the finger blocked the words. And you shouldn't scold, so
you're a mean old thing. So there. Then she turned me,
and you're a mean old thing too, and I'm not
going to take you with me to Grandma's. You don't
know how to behave yourself. Well, I never was so
shocked in my life. What had I done to Mamma lou.
(18:03):
She rubbed the soap quickly off my face. And then
I'm going to put you in your box for punishment
till tomorrow morning and see to it that you don't
get into any more mischief. You're a terrible trial, she said,
all wet and shivering as I was, and without giving
me a chance for one last peep at the gown
(18:23):
I was not to wear, she hurried me into my
box and clapped the lid on. Oh, Mammulu, I said,
again and again and again. I didn't mean to do
anything wrong. You know, it's not my fault. But I
don't call you a mean old thing because you just
didn't think what you were doing. Oh that pretty dress,
what a disappointment. Mamma Lou, how could you treat me so?
(18:48):
And all day long I lay and thought, oh, Mamma Lou,
how could you? That happened yesterday, didn't it? And today, oh, yes, today,
Mamma Lu took me out of my box and induced
me to Gladdy's and Mad. They sleep in one bed,
and she put me between them to get acquaintanced. She
said that was thoughtful of Mama Lou. Mad and Gladdy's
(19:11):
are really very sweet tempered, and no wonder that Mama
likes them. She propped them up on pillows to keep
them awake. And from half past eight when she left
for school, till half past two when she came home,
those girls did nothing but talk. I know everything about everyone,
my what heaps and heaps of stuff they didn't rattle
(19:32):
off into my ears. And I was feeling so sad
all the time, just because Mamma Lu had kissed them
before she left and had only said now be good
to me before goodbye. Even Gladdies and Maud thought it
was rather mean of her, And I must say, oh, well,
it's not nice to complain. And I tried hard not
(19:53):
to feel hurt when she tucked Maud and Gladdy's in
so lovingly tonight and said to me, now be sure
you don't disturbed them. She stayed in the nursery only
a short while after school, and just ran in after
supper again to sake ad night. I have a cold,
she told us, and Mama wants me to stay near
her all the time to be sure that I don't
(20:13):
catch another. I do hope that the water I splashed
on her yesterday didn't give it to her. Poor Mamma.
Her little nose was very so red and swollen. I
believe that I'm tired of thinking. I wish Teddy, but
there was no use calling him. I'm sure he won't answer. Teddy, Teddy,
I say, Teddy. No, Oh, dear, I think I'll begin
(20:39):
to count to make the night pass quickly. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
End of chapter one
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