Image from The Doll Show on the Nebraska State Historical Society website.
MY DOLLS.
I found my old dolls in the attic to-day,
In a box where I long ago laid them away.
It was silly, I know, but ’twas such a surprise,
The sight of their faces brought tears to my eyes.There was poor Flossie, with azure eyes closed,
For many a month she had quietly dozed
In the little silk gown in which I last dressed her.
That time was brought back so, I stooped and caressed her.And then, as I raised her, she opened her eyes,
And stared at her mother in such sad surprise,
That I kissed her and laid her again in her place
To keep her reproachful blue eyes off my face.And next I uncovered my little bisque Mable,
To meet whose brown eyes I was still unable.
Their gaze was surprise, but exceedingly milk
My poor little, dear little laid-away child!And I kissed her, her face looked so childish and sweet,
And I held for a moment her little kid feet,
For her stockings were scattered and so were her shoes,
And then, when I found them, they gave me the blues.I kissed her and laid her back in the box, but
She looked at me still (for her eyes would not shut).
And hastily covering her face from my sight,
I searched till wax Elsie I brought to the light.Now, that poor, little doll was only my niece.
Her eyes were dark-blue and her curls white as fleece,
But her nose was so flat ’twas no longer a nose,
And her wax cheeks had faded and lost all their rose;From losing her sawdust her body was slender,
Yet for these very reasons my kiss was more tender,
And I laid the poor thing away with a sigh,
And feeling, I must say, like having a cry.One big doll was missing — my dear Rosabel —
How much I did love her, I really can’t tell.
It is painful, indeed, to be talking about,
But I loved her so much that I quite wore her out.Well, well, I am older, but I’m sure I’m not glad,
The thought of those old times, in fact, makes me sad.
And, although the feeling is silly, I know,
I can not help sighing: “Oh! why did I grow?”— Bertha G. Davis, in N.Y. Tribune.
The Salem Daily News (Salem, Ohio) Oct 22, 1890
Tags: 1890, Bertha G. Davis, Poetry
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