Laura Lee Hope

“ So, as the Sawdust Doll was not very heavy, and as the Monkey on a Stick had taught her something about climbing, the Sawdust Doll climbed the scarf-ladder until she reached the shelf.
“Hello! who’s there?” asked the Jack, suddenly awakening in his box.
“It is I,” answered the Sawdust Doll. “I came to tell you about my adventure.”
“Oh, that is very kind of you,” said Jack. “I wish I could spring up and see you, but I’ll just have to look at you through a crack in my box. You have no idea how troublesome it is to have a broken spring.” ”

“ So the Bold Tin Soldier and the Calico Clown climbed down off the toy counter and walked slowly, and a little stiffly, over the floor toward the elevators. The one light shone dimly, and by its rays they could see that no one was in the store—not even the watchman. He was down on the first floor, near the perfumery counter. He loved the smell of perfumery, did that watchman.
“No one is here!” said the Bold Tin Soldier, as he came marching back with the Calico Clown.
“Not a soul to watch us? That’s fine!” shouted the Monkey on a Stick. “Now I’m going to have some fun!” ”

“ At night the junk man drove to his shop, where he kept many piles of rags, bottles, old automobile tires and different things that he sold to other men.
After supper the bag, in which was the Sawdust Doll, was brought from the wagon into the junk shop, and emptied out on the floor.
“Want to help me sort the rags, Tinka?” [96] called the junk man to his little girl.
“Oh, yes, I love to sort the rags,” Tinka answered. She was about as old as Dorothy, but she did not live in such a nice house. “I will sort the rags,” said Tinka. “If I find a pretty one, may I have a piece for a hair-ribbon?” ”

“ All the while the Sawdust Doll had been away on the junk-shop adventure, about which I have told you, poor Dorothy was almost heart-broken over the loss of her toy.
“Do you think I’ll ever get her back?” she asked over and over again.
“I hope you may get her back,” said Dorothy’s mother. But really Mother had very little hope.
“There are so many junk men, and they all seem to look alike,” she told Dorothy’s [104] father. “I don’t believe Patrick will find the one to whom he sold the bag of rags with the Sawdust Doll in it.” ”

“ The Sawdust Doll did not answer the dog, even though she may have known what he said. Pet animals and toy pets do not speak the same sort of talk, at least to one another. And pet animals can move about and bark or mew whether any real folks are looking at them or not. Toy dolls, rocking horses, and monkeys are not like that. They never move, or do anything if you watch them.
[65] Carlo scuttled around in the straw until he had covered the Sawdust Doll from sight in his kennel. ”

“ The little girl was crooning to the Doll a lullaby that was sung in ancient times by an ancient people.
“Let me see the Sawdust Doll, Tinka!” said the junk man.
“Oh, but, Papa, she is asleep, now,” said Tinka softly.
“I will not wake her up,” and the junk man smiled at his little daughter. “I will be careful not to wake her up.”
Then Tinka handed her father the Sawdust [98] Doll. The junk man turned her over and over in his hands, which were not very clean. Junk men cannot keep their hands clean when they work any more than the coal man can. ”

“ I’ll go more slowly,” kindly offered the Monkey. “But when you’ve had to keep still all day, because so many boys and girls are watching you, when they’re not picking you up and punching you to see what you’re made of—I say when you’ve been that way all day, you want to go fast when you get the chance.”
“I suppose so,” agreed the White Rocking Horse. “I feel like kicking my heels, too.”
“Well, just wait a moment, if you please,” put in the Bold Tin Soldier. “I want to march some of my men out into the middle of the floor and have a little parade. ”

“ There’s the man I sold the Sawdust Doll to!” cried the gardener. “There’s the junk man!”
The junk man got down off his seat and started up the path with something in his hand.
“Did you find——” began Patrick.
“I bring her back!” broke in the rag-buyer. “My little girl, Tinka, found a [105] Sawdust Doll in the rags when she sorted them. I bring her back—the Doll.”
“Well, thank goodness!” cried Patrick. “Dorothy will be glad of this! Wait a minute, junk man!” he called back as he ran into the house. ”

“ But when Dorothy, Mother, and Martha went to the cellar they saw the big bag limp and empty, hanging on a nail.
[94] “Oh, Patrick must have sold the rags!” said Martha.
And when they asked Patrick about it, of course that was what he had done; just as Martha had told him to do.
“I’ll get her back!” cried Patrick. “I’ll keep watch, and when I see that junk man going past again I’ll get your doll back, Dorothy.”
“Can’t you find him now?” asked the little girl. “I want my new Sawdust Doll awful much! Something is always happening to her! ”

“ Because of this no one has ever seen the toys at play, and the only reason I am allowed to tell you what they did is because I promised not to look. They told me about it afterward—just how it all happened—and that’s why I may put it in a book. But as for looking myself at the toys as they play, or letting any one else look—never! ”

“ Gid-dap!”
“I thought you were going to be a soldier captain,” said the little girl, who had run from the doll counter when she heard her brother’s joyous laughter.
“I’ll be a cowboy part of the time and [32] a soldier the other part,” he said. “And if you get a doll, Dorothy, I’ll let her ride on my horse. Please, Mother, buy me this!” he begged.
“Not now, Dick,” was Mother’s answer. “But, if you like, you may write Santa Claus a letter telling him you’d like this horse for Christmas.” ”

“ Is Dick there?”
“Yes, I’m here!” Dick answered. “I’m making believe a chair is a rocking horse. Did you bring me a rocking horse, [51] Mother?” he asked, and he came to the door of the playroom.
“It isn’t Christmas yet,” Mother answered, with a laugh. “Here, Martha,” she quickly said to the maid. “Take this doll. It’s for Dorothy’s birthday to-morrow. Hide it away on top of a closet shelf where Dorothy’ll not see it.”
The doll was laid away on a shelf in a dark closet. ”