Wonder whether any of you children can remember the "Blue Dolly," and what she saw one day up in the nursery? If so, perhaps you will be glad to hear that she was married last week. Now to whom do you think the Blue Dolly was married? Guess. You may guess three times. One, two, three. All wrong!
I knew you couldn't find out!
She was married to the Chinese Mandarin on the chimney piece.
I suppose you will want to know how it all happened, and how it fell out that she and the Chinese Mandarin fell in with each other and got married? Very well.
Perhaps, under these circumstances, I had better begin at the beginning. So I will. Now listen, and you will be surprised, I can tell you.
Ida was the Blue Dolly's "mamma," and Ernest was Dolly's "father," as you know. One evening Ida left Dolly in the corner while she herself went down to dessert, and after dessert Miss Ida came up to bed and forgot all about the Blue Dolly in the nursery.
The night was very cold, and when Dolly saw the fire going out she said timidly from her corner
"Don't go out, please."
"Why not?" said the Fire, which was not very bright just then. "Why shouldn't I?"
"Because I am cold," said Dolly; "besides, if you go out this weather you'll be taken up."
"By whom, I should like to know?" said the Fire, warmly.
"By me," said the Tongs, joining in the conversation with a rattle.
"And by me," added the Shovel.
But unfortunately the Shovel overbalanced itself and fell down upon the fender, which made such a noise that the nurse came running in. But, not seeing anything to alarm, her, she put up the Shovel again, brushed the dust from the fender, and shut the door with a bang.
The bang shook the room so that poor Mr. Nodding-Mandarin on the chimneypiece was knocked down, and just as he was bowing to the Blue Dolly too. He fell close beside her on the carpet.
"Dear me!" said the Blue Dolly, " I am afraid you are hurt?"
"I came to fling myself at your feet," said the Mandarin politely.
"I don't think I should have come down on my head if I had been you," replied Dolly kindly. "You are an odd person!"
"I'm a working person," said the Mandarin severely. " I suppose you mean to laugh at me?"
"Indeed not," replied Dolly; "I like you too much. And if you are good I'll tell you a secret."
"Oh! I am ever so good," replied the Mandarin. "What is the secret?"
"Well," replied the Blue Dolly, "do you know Jack-in-the-Box?"
"Yes, I have seen him. A horrid stuck-up fellow he is! Always popping out upon one suddenly. What about him ?"
"He wants me to marry him," said Dolly demurely. "He has a beautiful little box in the cupboard, he says, lined with bright paper, and he will take me there. He has friends in toy-shops too."
"I don't think I should like to be shut up all my life with a Jack-in-the-Box," said the Mandarin. "Now if you would marry me...
"Oh dear! I never thought of that," said Dolly.
"If you marry me," continued the Mandarin,
"I will take you up to the chimneypiece for the honeymoon. We shall see the Clock and the Ornaments and the Wooden Bear that came from Switzerland."
The Blue Dolly half consented as this glorious prospect opened before her.
"Then there is a China Shepherdess up there so very anxious to make your acquaintance and the young gentleman she was engaged to "
"Was she engaged? To whom?" exclaimed Blue Dolly eagerly.
"To the young gentleman in the gilt frame above the Clock. They were engaged, but... "
"But why didn't they marry, then?" interrupted the Blue Dolly.
"They couldn't," replied the Mandarin, nodding at her. " He was never dusted nor washed at the same time that she was. They only met once, and then they somehow got into hot water. He was hung, poor fellow; as you see, and she was put on the shelf."
"That is a very sad story," said the Blue Dolly. "I suppose she is very melancholy?"
"Not very, though she never speaks; but she wears flowers in her head all the summer, and paper flower picks during the winter. She is a little cracked, I think."
"I am sure I do not wonder at it. I know all my sawdust would run out if I were to suffer as she has," replied the Blue Dolly.
"She is a China Shepherdess," said the Mandarin, nodding violently. "I know all about her. She is rather hard. But, Dolly dear, will you be my wife ?"
"If you will not nod so much," replied Dolly. " You make me quite sleepy. There, I'm yawning again."
As she spoke the Blue Dolly slipped down from the wall against which she had been leaning, and her eyes closed immediately. She was fast asleep.
Next morning it happened that Ida (the blue dolly's mamma) took it into her head that the Blue Dolly should be married. This was very curious, as she could not have heard the conversation which Dolly and the Mandarin had had overnight. But Ida took up Dolly and said to Ernest and Willie, who were beside her
"Suppose we have a wedding and marry the Blue Dolly?"
"Oh! yes," replied Ida's older brother, Willie "and I'll be the clergyman."
"And I'll give her to her husband to keep, as uncle did Cousin Jessie," added Ernest, her younger brother.
"And I'll cry as Aunt Jane did," said Ida.
"That will be fun. Who shall we have for a husband?" asked Willie
"Our wooden Noah and his sons," suggested Ernest.
"No, they won't do," said Ida. " I vote for the Chinese Mandarin."
The Mandarin nodded as Ida took him up. "Look!" she exclaimed, "he says 'yes.' Will you marry my Dolly, sir?" The delighted Mandarin nodded again and again as Ida moved about. "Very well, then. Now who shall we ask to the wedding?"
"Ask our pet kitten," said Willie. "I'll go and fetch her." And he ran downstairs.
"Let us have the soldiers and Jack-in-the-Box," said Ernest.
"And Noah and all the animals, and the Monkey that plays the drum on wheels too." suggested Ida.
"Yes, and the Horse and Cart." added Ernest.
Such a wedding never was seen before, I'm sure. The kitten was put into the cart and drawn by Ernest; then came the Mandarin, followed by the Monkey beating the drum on wheels. This was the band. The tin soldiers out of the white box lined the way, while Noah, his sons, their wives, and all the animals even those which had no heads or legs came out for the occasion.
Last of all came the bride the Blue Dolly with a white handkerchief over her blue dress, looking very smart indeed. She was wheeled by Ida in a small perambulator.
The wedding would have passed off without any accident if the kitten had not insisted upon playing with the bridegroom's head, which she kept knocking from side to side till the Blue Dolly was so frightened that she almost screamed.
Willie, on the landing, wrapped in a tablecloth as the clergyman, had to take the kitten up to bed at last to prevent her playing with her tail during the service. Otherwise the wedding was uninterrupted.
The wedding party was all back in the nursery when nurse came in and told the children it was time to go out. So the Mandarin was put up upon the mantel shelf, and the Blue Dolly by his side. The Clock struck eleven loudly. Thus Blue Dolly was married to Mr. Nodding-Mandarin with great pomp and extravagance.
I must add that the China Shepherdess, the Clock, the Blue Dolly, and the Swiss Bear got great friends; and at the very first party given by Mr. and Mrs. Nodding-Mandarin the China Shepherdess fell in love with the Bear from Switzerland, and danced a bear dance with him on the chimneypiece.
Perhaps I may hear more about the Blue Dolly someday. If I do I will tell you, depend upon it. by Mercer Sunshine
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