There was once a Little Red Doll House that stood in the attic under the sloping roof. And in the Doll House there lived a family named Popover. There was Mr. Popover and Mrs. Popover and Velvetina Popover and Baby Popover, whose long name was Loo-Loo.
Mr. Popover was a clothes-pin, tall and slim and brown. His head was small, but his legs were long, and of them he was very, very proud.
Mrs. Popover was a little china doll. Her flaxen hair was thick and curly, and she wore a pretty blue dress that matched her pretty blue eyes.
Velvetina Popover was a little girl doll. She was dressed in a frock made of lovely pink velveteen, and of course that is why she was called Velvetina. Her yellow hair was long and tightly curled, and her little red mouth and pink cheeks were the prettiest ever seen. She wore neat black painted boots and her socks had a band of blue about the tops.
Baby Popover was a chubby glass bottle, smooth and long and round. He wore a little white cape and a white pointed cap tied over the cork that made his head. He lay in a little wooden cradle, as snug as could be, and he was never so good and quiet as when some one was rocking him to and fro.
The Popovers lived happily together in the Little Red Doll House. Long, long ago there had been a little girl named Amelia who had played with them every day. Then the Doll House had stood downstairs and the Popovers had led a very happy life indeed. Often Amelia had played so hard with the Popovers that if she had not gone to bed at night and given her dollies a rest, I do not know what they would have done.
It was Amelia who had named them Popover because popovers were her favorite kind of muffin, and, besides, she thought Popover one of the prettiest names she had ever heard.
Amelia loved all the Popover family dearly. She thought Mr. Popover a fine-looking father. She liked the way he stood so straight and tall. She thought Mrs. Popover the nicest little mother a doll family could have. She made aprons for her by the dozen out of bits of white cambric. And when Mrs. Popover in a clean was put down beside the Baby's cradle to rock him to sleep, Amelia would be so delighted that very likely she would clap her hands and whirl about until she lost her breath. She was that kind of little girl, you see.
As for Velvetina in her lovely pink frock, which was made from a scrap of a sofa cushion, when Amelia first thought of Velvetina'a name all she could sass was,
"Oh, how I wish my name was Velvetina Popover instead of Amelia Lamb!''
The Baby, too, Amelia loved with all her heart. He was so plump, so comfortable to play with and fitted so nicely into the little cradle that rocked beside Mr. and Mrs Popover's big gilt bed.
Amelia never tired of playing with the Popovers in their Little Red House.
But by and by Amelia grew from a little girl into a lady. Her name was now Mrs. Green. And since a lady has other things to do than to play with dolls, no matter how fond of them she may be, the Little Red Doll House with the Popover family inside had been carried up into the attic.
'But I like to live in the attic,' said cheerful Mrs. Popover one day when they were talking things over. 'Of course I miss Amelia, but it is quiet and good for the Baby up here.'
'I like it in the attic too,' said manly Mr. Popover. 'There is plenty of room for me to walk about and stretch my legs.'
'I like it in the attic' said Velvetina, 'but sometimes I wish I were downstairs again and that there was a little girl to play with me.'
As for the Baby, Loo-Loo, he said nothing at all, but lay in his cradle and smiled sweetly as his mother rocked him to and fro.
'You are not lonely in the attic, Velvetina?' asked Mrs. Popover. 'Think how pleasant it is, spring and fall, when the attic is opened and cleaned.'
Indeed it was pleasant, twice a year, when Mrs. Green, who, you remember, was once little Amelia, and her maidservant Caroline came up into the attic with brooms and pails and brushes and mops to give the room a thorough cleaning. The windows were flung open and the soft spring air or the brisk autumn breezes, whichever it might be, filled every corner of the long low room. The floor was scrubbed until it glistened. Every trunk and box was opened and aired. And last of all Mrs. Green sat down on the floor before the Little Red Doll House and carefully cleaned and dusted and set it in order as neat as a pin.
Yes, the Popovers enjoyed the bustle of the spring and fall house-cleaning. All winter long they looked forward to the spring. Through the hot summer days they talked of the coming of fall. But best of all they liked to see Mrs. Green again and to know that she had not forgotten them. And no doubt Mrs. Green was as glad to see the Popover family as they were to see her.
'No, Mother, indeed I am not lonely,' was Velvetina's reply to Mrs. Popover's question. 'And I like it in the attic, too, because of Peanut. He promised to take me for a ride tonight on his back as far as the big trunk in the corner and home again.'
Peanut was a little mouse who lived in the attic not far from the Popovers. He was a friendly little fellow who spent many an evening in the Popovers' parlor telling them of what went on downstairs, for of course he could run, as he liked, all over the house.
'Mr. and Mrs. Green are giving a party,' he would say. 'Perhaps I can bring up a bit of the cake to you after they have all gone to bed.'
'Mrs. Green is thinking of house-cleaning,' he would tell them too. 'I heard her say to Caroline that she would begin in the attic next week.'
And in return Mrs. Popover would tell stories of Mrs. Green when she was little Amelia, and Mr. Popover would tell tales of what happened when he was a boy.
'Yes, sir,' Mr. Popover would say, 'I used to hold the clothes on the line when I was a boy. I used to hold handkerchiefs and dresses and sheets and pillow-cases and many other things as well. I remember how blue the sky was, and how the wind would blow and make the clothes flap on the line. But I never let go; I held the clothes fast. I was a good worker when I was a boy, a very good worker indeed.'
That night the Popovers were expecting Peanut to spend the evening. It was twilight in the attic. Out-of-doors the sun had not yet gone down. They sat waiting for Peanut, listening for the scratch, scratch, scratch in the wall that would tell them he was near.
The attic was quiet in the dusk, as quiet as could be. Mrs. Popover was peacefully rocking Loo-Loo to and fro. Mr. Popover was looking down at his legs and thinking how long and straight they were. Velvetina was hoping that she would have a pleasant ride.
Suddenly there was a loud scratching in the wall that made every one jump. Then came a rustle and a squeak, and from behind a box sprang Peanut. His black eyes sparkled and his whiskers stood out straight and stiff with excitement. He was so out of breath that he couldn't speak.
Mrs. Popover caught up a fan and waved it briskly to and fro. She bade Velvetina run quickly for a glass of water. And after a few sips of water and a moment's rest, Peanut was able to tell them the great news.
'There is a little girl downstairs,' gasped Peanut. 'She has come to stay. She has brought a trunk. She calls Mrs. Green Aunt Amelia, and before she had taken off her hat she said,
'Aunt Amelia, where is the Doll House you told me you had when you were a little girl?"
'And Mrs. Green said, "It is in the attic, Ellen. Take off your hat and coat and we will go up and see it."
'They are coming up to the attic now. I can hear their voices. I hear their feet on the stairs. I must hide.'
Yes, there was the sound of voices and the noise of feet on the stairs. The Popovers could hear the feet coming nearer and nearer and nearer. And before Mrs. Popover could take Loo-Loo's thumb out of his mouth or twitch Velvetina's curls in place, the top of the stairs was reached and a little girl ran into the room.
Straight to the Little Red Doll House she came and stood looking eagerly in with round blue eyes.
' Aunt Amelia, Aunt Amelia!' said the little girl at last, pressing her hands tightly together for joy, 'this is the most beautiful Doll House I have ever seen.'
'I am glad you like my Doll House, Ellen,' answered Mrs. Green, smiling down at both Ellen and at her old friends, the Popovers, too. 'We must go to dinner now. But I will have it carried downstairs for you tomorrow, if you like.'
This pleasant news made the little girl Ellen, in her turn, smile happily all over her round, rosy face.
And, as she went down the stairs, if she had looked back into the attic, Ellen would have seen the Popover family smiling too.
'How glad I am this little girl has come! She is going to be even more pleasant than house-cleaning,' said Mrs. Popover with a nod.
And you shall see whether or no Mrs. Popover was right. by Ethel Calvert Phillips
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