A Week From A Little Girl's Diary, 1920

Monday

I love her on a Monday
When hanging out the clothes,
And I'm gunning for the blackbird
That dares trespass on her nose.

       Monday morning after breakfast I start for school. Jack and I go the same way, and he leaves me at the door, so Mother knows I'm safe. When school is over, lots of us girls go home together. Quite often some of my schoolmates come home with me for lunch, and then we play in the house for a little while before we go to the park. Of course, Monday is Dolly's wash day, so I usually wash her clothes very carefully and hang them up to dry in the little garden on top of my doll's house. This just came for Christmas, and I like it so much that I am going to keep it in order just the way Mother does our house, so that is why I try to do every day just what they are doing in the big grown-up house. It doesn't take very long for Dolly's little things to dry, and then I fold them up and put them in a cunning little clothes basket until the next day, when I start my Ironing.  

Tuesday

I love her on Tuesday
As she irons smooth and clean
Her little dolly's dresses
With the tucks and frills between.

       Tuesday, directly after lunch, I play with my doll's house. You see, I have all the work to do for Dolly, and so I take out the clothes from the basket in the doll's house kitchen, and smooth them out, ready for ironing. There is a cunning little ironing board, besides two small irons, for "Ironing Day." There are lots of things to iron, all Dolly's table linen and the cute little sheets and pillow cases and towels, too. Oh, dear me! Sometimes I feel that Mother has a pretty hard time with our big house when I see how it bothers me to keep Dolly's house in perfect order.

       Sometimes, before I have finished, my little friend Eleanor Gray will come in, and want me to go out with her. Then we both take our hoops and go to the park and play all afternoon. As soon as I get home I put Dolly to bed, before I have my own supper, because if I don't, very often I haven't time to attend to her afterwards and she has to sit up all night, which must be very tiresome even for a doll.  

Wednesday

I love her on a Wednesday
When she kneads the snowy dough.
For the dimples in her elbows
Make such a pretty show.

       Wednesday, as soon as I get back from school, if cook is making bread I beg her to let me have some of the dough, and then Dolly sits by me while I make it into all sorts of pretty little cakes and things, and put it in the oven in the stove - I mean, of course, the doll house stove, for the kitchen is all fitted up with everything just like a real kitchen. There is a big dresser, and shelves full of tin pans, and crockery. There is a cunning, little towel on a wooden roller, and a sink with faucets, and real water. The range is heated by electricity and really cooks the cakes, only Dolly and I don't eat them, for mother says our cook's are better, so we eat little pieces of cookies instead.

       Of course, if it is a nice day, I go out to the park on my roller skates, or take my hoop, but I usually get time before I go to help Dolly with her household duties.

Thursday

I love her on a Thursday
When she darns a gap that shows
In the sombre socks of Father
Or Brother's careless hose.

       Thursday, Mother teaches me how to mend. She says that every little girl should know these things. Father gives me a penny for every hole I mend in his socks, and brother Jack gives me little presents; once he gave me a whole set of furniture which he had cut out with his fretsaw.

       There is one nice thing about Dolly - she very seldom has a hole in her stocking. If she did, I hardly know what I would do, for Father and Jack keep me pretty busy - at least. Mother laughs and says they do. Learning all the accomplishments of a grown-up woman is pretty hard work, and, really, I often wonder how I'll ever get any time for play in the park. Mother, however, finishes lots of my duties so that I shan't miss my regular hours in the open air with my friends.

Friday

I love her on a Friday
When the house is upside down
And her golden hair is muffled
In a twisted turban brown.

       Friday is the last of school for the week, and Saturday is coming. There are two reasons why I like Friday. One is that it is the last day of school week, and the other - because tomorrow is Saturday.

       I do just about the same things on Friday, that is, school as usual, and then a romp or walk in the park, rolling my hoop or skating on my rollers. But at home I'm very busy. It's doll's house cleaning day, and oh, dear me! I have to brush it out from attic to kitchen. It is a lot of work, for all the rooms have carpets or hardwood floors with little rugs, and everything must be dusted thoroughly. I do my hair up just as regular grown-up cleaners do, and by and by Dolly's house is all done. For a little girl it is hard work, and Mother says she thinks I will make a fine housekeeper when I grow up. I hope I won't get another doll's house next Christmas, for I don't see how I could run two houses at once.

Saturday

I love her on a Saturday
When she and Mother go
Together to a matinee
Or moving picture show.

       Saturday is a holiday all the time. In the morning I take a run in the park to get the fresh air and exercise; and then after lunch, Mother and I - oh, it's such fun! - go to a matinee or a motion picture play. When we come out, we have a cup of hot chocolate somewhere, with little cakes or crackers, and it's just lovely! After that, it's time to go home. Dolly is waiting for me, and I tell her all about everything while I undress her and put her to bed, and she is so good she never cries or says: "Why didn't you take me, too?" 

Sunday

I love her on a Sunday,
As she goes to church with me,
With her little gilt-edged Bible
Held close and reverently.

       Sunday morning Father and I start off for church before the rest of the family, because Father wants his early walk, and I love to go with him. Through the park we go, watching the pretty little squirrels who run up to us, for they seem to know that Father will let me wait a few minutes to give them some nuts or little pieces of cracker which I have almost always in my pocket. I call one squirrel the "Little Minister" because he looks so solemn, and walks up so quietly and slowly to me, and then holds his nut between his paws and looks it over, as if it were a book, before he starts to open the cover and eat the inside. After church we all come home and have early dinner. In the afternoon, brother and I go for a long walk in the park. After supper, the nicest part of all the day, we sing hymns and Brother Jack and I say a piece of poetry, which we learn for each Sunday. Then we kiss everybody good night.