Proud and Lazy Part 12

"It is an awful story, and I wouldn't say it even in fun."

Nellie said she would not say it again, only she wanted to have Miss f.a.n.n.y do just as the big folks did. And so they played all the afternoon, though Lady Jane did not honor them with her company. All the dollies paid lots of visits; and Flora went home.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Katy unhappy.]

III.

When Flora reached home she told her mother what a nice time she had, and what splendid visits Miss Lucy and Miss Mary and Miss Susie had made to Miss f.a.n.n.y.

She could not help telling her mother what a good girl Nellie was, and how she loved her sister, even when she was unkind and spoke pettishly to her.

Then she told her how much she wished Nellie had a wax doll, with real hair, and a white silk dress. Mrs. Lee thought such a good girl ought to have one, and the very next time she went to the city, she bought the prettiest wax doll she could find for her.

Flora was full of joy when she saw the doll, and learned whom it was for. She was a great deal happier than if the doll had been bought for herself; and she wanted to run right over to Mr. Green's with the beautiful present. She longed to see the eyes of Nellie sparkle as she saw the doll, and to hear what she would say when told it was for her. But Mrs. Lee thought they had better keep the doll till Christmas, and let her find it with her stocking in the morning.

"But then I shan't see her when she first gets the dolly," said Flora.

"That is true; but you must write a little note, which shall be pinned on the doll's dress."

"That will be splendid, mother! And I will go right away and write the note now."

Flora got a pencil and a piece of paper, and seated herself in the corner. She worked away for half an hour as busy as a bee, and then she carried the note to her mother. She was not much of a writer, having been to school only a year. She could only print the note.

Flora was very fond of writing notes, and long before she could make a single letter, she would fill up a piece of paper with pothooks and spiders' legs, and send them to her mother and Frank.

She did not spell all the words right, but her mother told her how to correct them, and then she printed the note over again, on a nice sheet of gilt-edged paper. Thinking my little friends might want to see this note, I place a copy of it in the book, just exactly as she wrote it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dear Nellie This Dolly Is From Me. I Love You Very Much And I Wish You A Merry Christmas.

Flora Lee.]

When Christmas morning came, Nellie found the doll in a chair, close by her stocking. I can't tell you how pleased she was, but you can all guess. Then she took the note from the dress, and read it. She was more pleased than ever to find it was from Flora.

She almost cried with joy as she puzzled out the note, and thought how kind Flora and her mother were to remember her.

"What a dear you are, Miss Dolly!" said she, as she took up the doll and kissed her, just as though she had been a real live baby.

"You and I shall be first-rate friends, just as long as we live. I will take such good care of you! Dear me! Why, mother! Only think!"

"What is the matter, Nellie?" asked Mrs. Green, who was almost as much pleased as her daughter.

"Did you see that?"

"What, child? What do you mean?"

"Did you see those eyes?"

"Yes, I see them."

"Why, just as true as I am alive, she moved them!"

"I think not, my child. She is a very handsome doll, but I don't think she could move her eyes, if she tried ever so hard."

"But she did; I know she did;" and Nellie took hold of her head to examine it more closely. As she did so, she bent the body a little.

"There! as true as I live, she moved them again!"

Mrs. Green took the doll, and found that the eyes did really move.

It was funny, but it was true. Mrs. Lee and Flora knew all about it.

The eyes were made of gla.s.s, and there was something inside of the doll which moved them when the body was bent.

"Let me see," said Katy, who had been looking on in silence all this time. Nellie gave her the doll at once; and she bent the body and saw the eyes move twenty times. The happy owner of Miss Dolly waited with patience till her sister had done with her.

"Why didn't aunt Jane get me one like that, I wonder," said Katy, when she gave the doll to Nellie.

"I suppose she could not afford to buy one like this, for she is not so rich as Mrs. Lee."

"But you shall have her to play with just when you want her," said Nellie.

"Pooh! I don't want your old dolly," snarled Katy. "She isn't half so good as mine. I would rather have Lady Jane than have her, any day."

"Why, then, did you wish your aunt Jane had given you one like this?" asked her mother.

"I don't care for her old dolly! She may keep it for all me,"

replied Katy.

"But it shall be yours just as much as mine, Katy," said Nellie, in tones so gentle and sweet that her sister ought to have kissed her for them, and loved her more than she ever loved her before.

But she did not. She was envious. She was sorry the doll had been given to Nellie--sorry because it was a prettier one than her own.

It was a very wicked feeling. She had some presents of her own, but her envy spoiled all the pleasure she might have taken in them.

Nellie was almost sorry the doll had been given to her, when she saw how Katy felt about it. Mrs. Green talked to the envious girl till she cried, about her conduct. She tried to make her feel how odious and wicked envy made her.

Whenever Katy saw the new doll, she seemed to be angry with her sister. Poor Nellie's pleasure was nearly spoiled, and she even offered to exchange her doll for Katy's, but her mother would not let her do so.

In a few days, however, she seemed to feel better, and the two sisters had some good times with their dolls. I say she seemed to feel better, but she really did not. She did not like it that Nellie's doll was a finer one than her own.

Yet Nellie was happier, for she thought Katy was cured of her ill feeling. Then she loved her doll more than ever. She was a cunning little girl, and she thought so much of her new friend that she always used to say "Dolly and I."

When her mother asked her where she had been, she would reply, "Dolly and I have been having a nice time upstairs." "Dolly and I"

used to do ever so many things, and no two little ladies could ever enjoy themselves more than did Dolly and Nellie.

I am sorry to say that Katy did not like Dolly at all. She could never forgive her for moving her eyes, because Lady Jane could not move hers. It is true that, after she saw how silly and wicked her envy made her appear to others, she tried very hard not to show it.

We may be just as wicked without showing our sin to others, as we can be when we let the world see just what we are. When we are wicked, the sin is more in the heart than in the actions.