The Doll Wedding

THE DOLL WEDDING

by Lena Miller.

       When school was out on Friday afternoon and Auntie said she would take me to Uncle's farm in the mountains for my vacation during institute week, I was a happy little girl, for I knew what a jolly time I would have gathering wild flowers and playing in the creek. Aunt Ruth said I might invite my little chum and schoolmate to go along, and I could hardly wait for morning to come to ask her. I arose bright and early, all smiles and happiness, and ran to tell her she might go. My little chum's name is Vada and mine is Ada. Isn't it funny that we should have names so near alike?

Our creek.

       Aunt Ruth dressed me in a pretty red dress and black slippers, red stockings, and fluffed my long, beautiful blond hair, which reached almost to my waist, and tied it with a big red bow. She almost always fixes it that way. So here I was, with my red sweater on my arm, waiting for my chum. She came all dressed up in her pretty brown dress, brown stockings and brown velvet shoes, a great big green bow in her hair, and a green sweater on her arm.

       "Hurrah, hurrah! Here comes Aunt Ellen and Uncle John with their big automobile." We all rushed for our traps and bundles and you should have seen the automobile. We had so many goodies along. You see, we were going to stay a week, and Uncle Paul's farm was a stock farm, so we had to take fruit and vegetables, butter and eggs, and small barrels of ginger snaps. We had some nice egg sandwiches, a jar of milk which Aunt Ruth put up for our lunch, three grips and so many coats and sweaters that we could hardly find room for ourselves to sit down. When we were ready to start, there was a crowd of our little friends calling out, "Goodbye Ada, goodbye Aunt Ruth, Wedding goodbye Uncle John, goodbye Vada, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. I wish we were going along."

       At last we started, and, oh! what a beautiful morning it was. All the wild flowers were in bloom and the air was fresh and the birds were singing at the top of their voices. It was a lovely trip over the level plains to the beautiful San Joaquin river. We crossed a long bridge and then went for miles through the beautiful grain fields.

       At last we came to Uncle Paul's farm, but we had to cross a creek first, and the water was so deep that our automobile got stuck in the sand. I had to run to the house and call Uncle Paul to help get us out. We all had to get out of the machine, and Uncle Paul waded into the creek with his shoes and stockings on and pushed from the back, while Aunt Ruth was at the wheel, and we were out in a jiffy. I shall tell you how much fun we had in the creek later on.

       When we got to the farm that evening twilight had fallen and in the neighboring oak tree a mocking bird was singing. We had supper and made our beds on the porch which was all covered with beautiful red roses. When we lay down to sleep, it sounded so sweet to hear the sheep bleating in the brush corral on the top of the hill, and in the far distance we could hear faintly the cowbells ringing. We could not go to sleep for hours thinking of what we were going to do the next day. Then we began counting the stars until we fell asleep.

       The next morning, as the sun was peeping over the hill tops, we were awakened by the singing of the orioles and bee-martins. We hurried and dressed ourselves, and made a rush for the fields, which were covered with bluebells and sweet white forget-me-nots, and there were so many cowslips along the road we didn't know which to pick first.

       The first few days we ran over the hills and through the fields gathering wild flowers. We had so many boquets gathered that all the glasses we could find were filled. Then Vada said, "Just think what a jolly time we could have sliding down the steep hill back of the barn, over the slippery grass, if we only had a sled." I clapped my hands for joy and ran for Uncle John. "Oh, Uncle John, we want you to make us a sled." So we hunted some boards, a hammer and a saw, and in a little while Uncle John had made a very good one. We made a rush for the hill where the old oaks spread their shade, and had sleigh-riding to our heart's content.

       We asked permission to go wading in the creek, but were afraid to go alone, for Auntie had told me so many stories about the Indians, so we asked Aunt Ruth to go with us. We had great fun bathing and splashing in the water. Auntie let us take our shoes and stockings off, and we waded in with our Wedding clothes on. It was lots of fun. The plank that lay across the creek gave us great sport. We jumped up and down on it, and then jumped into the water and tried to swim. We would lie on the plank and let it float as far as the wire fence that was stretched across the creek from the pasture. We kept this fun up for about an hour. Then Aunty said, "Enough, my little girls; come now."

       On our way home Auntie exclaimed, "Oh, my! Look, look, what's that? And there lay a big gopher snake across the road about fifty yards from where we were playing. "Oh, my! Oh, my!" we exclaimed, and jumped with fright. It lay there for a few minutes, and when it saw us it hurriedly slipped on the other side of the road and was lost to our sight in the tar weeds. I guess it was about as much frightened as we were. I tell you it did not take us long to get home.

       I had a dear little china doll with pretty blue eyes and yellow hair and cheeks like pink roses. She had blue stockings and black slippers. She was seven inches tall and could stand all alone. I live over a lot of fun every time I look at my doll. Vada's doll looked like a boy and was two inches taller than mine. It had short hair and "google" eyes, and was fat and chunky.

       We asked Aunt Ruth if she would go with us once more to the creek because we wanted to christen our dolls. When the cool of the evening came around, we walked down the lovely lane of oak trees to the creek. The plank was still across it. We waded into the middle of the stream in our bare feet with our dresses tucked up so we would not get them wet, then we stood the two dolls on the plank and performed the ceremony. I named my doll Maria White, and Vada named hers Charles De Gray, and we sprinkled water on their little heads.

       Then the idea came to us, why not have a doll wedding? We had a box of doll scraps which we had brought along. Vada's mamma was a milliner, so we had some beautiful scraps of goods and laces in our box. When we got back to the house, we got a blanket and spread it out on one end of the porch. The first thing we did was to write invitations to our uncles and aunts and to a neighbor friend that was visiting Uncle Paul. This was the invitation:

You are invited to attend

the wedding of my daughter

Maria

to

Charles De Gray

at 12:30 p. m.

       Then we got out our doll scraps. Vada was very original and very deft in putting her ideas together. In a little while she had the prettiest little white duck suit made for her boy doll. She punched holes in the little duck coat and ran a blue baby ribbon through.

       Now we did not know what to do about Charles De Gray. He had such short hair and looked so much like a baby, so Vada said, "I will make him a hat" and she made it out of a piece of pasteboard and covered it with gray silk and sewed it with the tiniest little stitches, and put a piece of black velvet ribbon around the crown. We had a dear little stovepipe hat for him which you can see for yourself in the bridal picture. Then we made the bride a beautiful, dainty white satin dress and found a piece of white veiling in the scrap box for a bridal veil.

       We went out and gathered some wild white forget-me-nots and ran down to the pear tree in the orchard and got some blossoms which were just opening, and the sweet white buds looked just like orange blossoms. The pear blossoms were so white and beautiful that I trimmed the bottom of the dress with them. I made a wreath out of the forget-me-nots and placed it on her head over the veil. "Isn't she a darling?" said Vada. Every few minutes we would run to my aunties and show them how sweet the dolls looked. "Auntie, dear, look. Isn't she a darling and doesn't he look sweet? Isn't this the sweetest little dress? Oh, you little darlings!"

       I made a pretty little pink silk sachet bag and put the tiniest little white handkerchief in it and hung it on her arm. In the other arm she carried a shower bouquet of pear blossoms which reached almost to the bottom of her dress. We made her a pink silk night dress for a wedding present, and the groom a pajama suit of pink silk for his present. We wrapped them up in neat little packages and tied them with white baby ribbon and laid them at the foot of their bridal box. Then Aunt Ellen gave us each a dime and we called them ten dollars each, and gave them for wedding presents also.

       The groom was dressed in his white duck suit and stovepipe hat, and his little socks were yellow and his slippers black, and he wore a pear blossom pinned on his coat.

The doll bride and groom.

       As the day of the wedding dawned we were very busy arranging things. We got a box from Uncle Paul and a piece of wire and made an arch out of it. We then got a big bunch of pear blossoms and fastened them on the wire, and that made the bridal arch. The walk was strewn with dainty pink peach blossoms and wild forget-me-nots. It looked quite real. Aunt Ellen said it was just like when she got married.

       I found a Bible and held it in my hand and said, "Charles De Gray, will you take Maria White for your wife?" And Vada said, "Yes, I will," for him. Then I asked Maria, "Will you take Charles De Grey for your husband?" and Vada answered, "Yes, I will," for her. Then I said, "I pronounce you married."

       Auntie then turned on the phonograph and played the wedding march, Here Comes the Bride, and we ran to the cupboard and got some rice and threw it on them for good luck.

       Then we sat down and ate our dinner and they had to look on. After we were through with our dinner we asked Uncle Paul to please take their pictures. You know all brides like to have their pictures taken, and we thought it would be lovely, as doll weddings don't happen very often, especially such a beautiful wedding; the handsome bride in her lovely white satin dress and the white forget-me-nots in her wreath drooping over her veil and forehead, and the groom looked so proud at her with his googly eyes and with his swell silk hat on his head. They looked just as though they could walk away to the strains of the wedding march. We changed their wedding clothes for their going-away clothes. Maria had a traveling dress made of Scotch plaid, bright red and blue with tiny black and white and yellow stripes through it, and a hat to match. Charles was dressed in black velvet pants with white satin waist, and we found a piece of cream velvet and made him a long cape which reached to the ground, and with the stovepipe hat on his head he looked quite swell.

       We started for home the next morning and took the bride and groom along.

(This is a true story.)

One week after the honeymoon, I am in tears, the bride is broken.

(The End)