“Tell me about it,” said Kristy eagerly.
“Well,” said her mother, “this is the way it happened.”
CHAPTER II
PLAYING DOCTOR; AND WHAT CAME OF IT
One rainy Saturday afternoon when they were not allowed to go out, Bessie and Helen were playing with their dolls in the nursery.
Helen had a large family of dolls of many kinds: stiff kid-bodied dolls with heads made of some sort of composition that broke very easily, and legs and feet from the knees down of wood, with slippers of pink or blue painted on; others all wood, with jointed legs and arms, that could sit down; whole families of paper dolls cut from cardboard, with large wardrobes of garments of gilt and colored paper which the girls made themselves. Then there was a grand wax doll with real hair which hung in curls, and lips slightly open showing four tiny white teeth. This lovely creature was dressed in pink gauze, and was far too fine for every day. It lived in the lower bureau drawer in Helen’s room, and was brought out only on special occasions.
Dearest of all was a doll her mother made for her, of white cloth with a face painted on it, and head of hair made of what used to be called a “false front.” This delightful doll was quite a wonder in those days. It had a wardrobe as well made as Helen’s own, including stockings and shoes, and could be dressed and undressed and combed and brushed to her heart’s content.
Well, one morning,—a rainy Saturday, as I said,—the two girls were very busy with the big family of dolls. They were playing that the wax doll was sick and they were Doctor and Nurse. Many tiny beads—called pills—and several drops from a bottle out of the family medicine case had been thrust between the teeth of this unlucky creature, when the thought struck Helen that a living patient would be more fun than a doll. So she hunted up a half-grown kitten that belonged to her little brother Robbie.
The kitten was dressed for her part in a white towel pinned around her and a pointed cap of paper on her head. Very droll she looked, but she was not so easy to manage as the doll. Beads she refused to swallow, but thrust them out on her small pink tongue, and she struggled violently when a drop of the medicine was given to her. In fact, her struggles made Helen’s arm joggle, and sent more down her throat than she meant to give her.