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Little Maid in Toyland

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<h2>CHAPTER II THE HOUSE IS FURNISHED</h2> THE furnishing of the doll’s house proved a keen delight to Sally, and the infection spread from the little girl to the other members of the household, even Papa Doctor often emerging from his carriage with his arms full of mysterious, knobby parcels. Mamma Wee, as Sally lovingly nicknamed Mrs. North, renounced pink teas and bridge parties and spent hours every day sitting bow-legged like a Turk or a tailor, while she arranged the fascinating little rooms, laid small carpets and tacked up tiny, ruffled curtains. For all the windows were real ones, with panes of glass let into the small sashes and with the cunningest little white blinds that opened in the middle and could be securely fastened with bolts at night. Sally, who, as Bob said, was “always thinking up something else,” was already revolving in her own mind the propriety of demanding screens to head off imaginary flies and mosquitoes. “Just fancy how perfectly huge a real fly would look to one of the dollies!” she said to herself as she thoughtfully pondered on the momentous question. She scarcely liked to ask John if he would undertake such a[14] particular job, he had done so much already. “Pernickety” he was sure to call it. So, after much mature deliberation, she concluded to drop the matter for the present, at least. “What is the use of screening up the back and sides when the front is all open anyway?” Bob had exclaimed when Sally finally broached the subject to him. “Oh, but we are imagining the front is just like that in any other house!” retorted Sally with some spirit. “Well, then imagine that the flies can’t come in,” responded Bob. And that settled it. Odd as it may seem, the attic was the very first room that Sally started to put in order. And a most delicious little place it was, with its raftered ceiling and neatly plastered walls. With the vision of their own immaculate attic in her mind’s eye, the child proceeded to neatly range around the walls several doll’s trunks, a tiny spinning wheel and two or three odd wooden chairs; also one of the many cradles that had been presented as offerings at the shrine of the doll’s house. A spinning wheel and a cradle comprised, for the most part, what Sally denominated a “proper” attic. From the rafters the child hung tiny bunches of good-smelling herbs, for which cook had been levied upon. To be sure, no such thing existed in city attics as a rule, but they did down at the farm. Sally suddenly recollected that they also had spiders and cobwebs[15] in the attic at the farm. The very thought of a spider made her shiver, but she wondered if it would not be well to affect a few cobwebs, and privately concluded to request Miss Palmer, her beloved governess, to paint in a few with water-colors,—a scheme into which Miss Palmer heartily entered, adding on her own responsibility a fat, yellow spider, whose appearance was so realistic that Sally shrieked when she first discovered it. Bob promptly suggested that a few rats should be added. But rats, Miss Palmer declared, were beyond her powers of creation. They would require to be real, solid little beasts, and not simply painted flat on the wall. To this Bob readily assented, gravely adding that if they were only painted on the wall, of course they never could come down at night to bite the dolls. Bob concluded his remarks by making a grimace so fearfully suggestive of a prowling rat that Sally fled in anguish, and Miss Palmer, while she could not refrain from smiling, felt forced to request that he would cease from tormenting his sister. From the attic to the kitchen is quite a long jump, at least it would have been without the staircase. But the kitchen was the next on the program, and thither were the forces of the furnishing party now directed. Never had a new kitchen been so liberally supplied with stoves, kettles, pans and pots, especially stoves. It really seemed as if everyone who had not sent a cradle had sent a stove. Every kind except an electric one, as Sally sadly reflected. But[16] Miss Palmer consoled her by saying that she doubted very much if electric stoves came in so small a size. So Sally was presently very well content to see a most fascinating little cast-iron affair set up, on top of which was ranged an array of pots and kettles sufficient to prepare a dinner for the most particular of dolls, albeit of diminutive size. Opposite the stove stood a neat dresser, filled with a most wonderful array of china and glass. To be sure, Sally had reserved the very best for the china closet in the dining-room, but the display in the kitchen was a goodly one. So also was the wooden and tinware that hung upon hooks and displayed itself on shelves all around the walls. But the article dearest to Sally’s heart, and over which the child lingered longest in a perfect passion of delight was a miniature refrigerator, an almost exact reproduction of the big one downstairs. Lined with opal glass, its well-filled shelves were weighted down with all sorts of delectable edibles that dolls are presumed to delight in. Its upper compartment was filled with chunks of ground glass to represent ice. Sally lingered long in rapture over this delightful bit of furniture, and having at last located it entirely to her satisfaction, placed over against it a cute little three-cornered closet containing a collection of brooms and mops, and a wee carpet sweeper, whose tiny, revolving brushes really picked up any small bits of fluff and lint that happened to be about. [17] Surely never was a kitchen so perfectly and generously supplied with all things needful, from the shining yellow oil-cloth on the floor to the beautiful blue table and chairs, the gift of nurse, who declared them to be exactly like those used in the “auld counthry.” The whole shining region was presided over by a stiff, colored cook in turban and apron, who, alas! could never sit down on the beautiful blue chairs, as she belonged to the variety of dolls that does not bend in the middle. Out of the kitchen opened the laundry, which was furnished quite as perfectly in its way, with a ravishing little laundry set which Mamma Wee had discovered in one of the big department stores. Everything was most complete and the whole family lingered in admiration over the shiny copper boiler that adorned the neat stove, the glittering flatirons and very tiny clothes-pins. The arrangement for heating the irons, a black, pointed kind of stove against the sides of which the irons stood up flatly, filled everybody with ecstasy. Sarah, the laundress, begged for a loan of it, declaring that she had never seen anything that could compare with it for heating real irons. <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus018.jpg" width-obs="372" height-obs="470" alt="Girl showing dollhouse to maid" /></div> This joking pleased Sally immensely, and she invited Sarah to use the laundry for the family washing whenever she felt so inclined. Whereupon Sarah departed laughing and declaring that she had “never seen anything to come up to it, before nor since.”[18] “Before nor since” was a favorite expression of Sarah’s, the meaning of which neither Sally nor indeed anybody else had ever been able to fathom. “Forevermore” was another expression over which the little girl pondered deeply. She was afraid to ask for information, lest she should give offense, for Mamma Wee had carefully trained her little daughter to be especially considerate of the feelings of all who were dependents in the household. Therefore Sally wondered in secret, and the mystery was never solved, as far as I know, to the end of the chapter. The dining-room came next in the natural sequence of things, and an extremely imposing and spacious room it was, with floor and[19] paneling polished to represent hard wood, while above the panels was displayed a gorgeous paper of a lively red pattern. The ceiling was raftered and studded with tiny electric light bulbs. A fine bow window occupied one whole end. In truth, ’twas a love of a room and no mistake. A lofty china closet contained all the fine glass and china, while a sideboard of newest pattern groaned under its weight of rich German silver. Everything was of the most novel and up-to-date pattern. The round table, the finely carved chairs, and the beautiful Persian rug that Grandma had knitted from ravelings of carpet, worked in with heavy crochet cotton, all went to make up a picture not easily to be rivaled in the annals of doll’s houses. The bow window was a delight in itself. All around it ran a wide seat which Sally piled high with tiny silk cushions, while crisp muslin curtains finished with wee ruffles shaded the panes. A couple of canaries hung aloft in their gilded cages. The whole effect was stunning, and the assembled family silently gloated over it and unitedly envied the dolls who were to enjoy such an ideal dining-room. <hr class="chap" /> [20] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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