Tales of the Toys, Told by Themselves

"I am afraid," said she, "you will not like my story at all, for it's not half so lively and entertaining as the Hoop's, in fact there's nothing merry about it, but quite the reverse. I can tell you nothing of my birthplace or of my original history, for you see I've had a large family to keep together, and look after, and I've been so battered and knocked about in my course through life, that my memory is sadly impaired. So I can only tell you that we all came from Germany, where we were made, and were carefully packed in a little pasteboard box, in which we travelled to the English house to which we were sent, with numbers of others. We remained for some time in seclusion on the shelf of the toy warehouse, and were then drafted off to a little toy-shop at the West end of London. Our present owner was a notable little woman, the wife of a head workman at a large cabinet manufactory, and as she had two or three small children, she was glad to make ends meet by fitting out her front parlour as a little toy-shop. It was a very quiet, nice street, not far from a large hotel, and as the rents were rather high, the houses were only let to fairly respectable people. The little woman let her first floor, neatly, but plainly, furnished, to an elderly lady; and by all these small helps, added to her husband's wages, they lived very comfortably, and brought up their little ones nicely. A younger sister of the wife's lived with them, and was a great help in waiting on the old lady and in serving the customers.

"Rose was such a good-tempered girl, she was a great favourite with all the young purchasers; she never cared what trouble she took to suit them, and turned over the whole stock of toys that she might find what they wanted. All the little poor children in the neighbourhood used to watch to see when she came into the shop to make their small bargains. She never grumbled while they picked out the prettiest faces that suited their fancy among the halfpenny wooden dolls, and she kept a choice corner of very cheap toys on purpose for all these little ones, who so rarely knew what the pleasure of buying a toy was. But I think she had her reward when she saw the little eyes nearly sparkle, and the pale, thin faces get a little colour, as they trotted happily off with their few and scanty treasures cuddled up in their old ragged pinafores. We lay for a long time on the counter with our lid off, to tempt the young folks who came to the shop, so I had some opportunity to see all the different customers.

"I suppose my own busy, careful life, with all my tribe of young ones, has made me understand all these things better, for I remember so much of this time, while I have forgotten a great deal else. How often I have seen the richer class of children come in with their governesses or servants, and just glancing over the toys carelessly, they have selected what they wanted, and have gone off, with no more than a passing pleasure with their possessions. And very likely in a fortnight the same party have returned again, and carried off something else, feeling more careless than before at the sight of the playthings they had almost exhausted.

"Different to them, as station and dress could make them, were Rose's little friends. The golden hair, or dark braids of the little ladies, and their flower-like faces, set off with their trim hats, and tasteful, cool, well-made dresses, did not contrast more strongly with the sallow faces, ragged, short locks, tangled with wind and weather, and the patched or ragged garments of the poorer children, than did their manners and wants. These latter little ones were the small evening audience who flattened their noses against the bright, gas-lighted window of the gay toy-shop, and who knew all its contents by heart, as well as its owner. But they never hoped, poor little souls! except in dreams, for all these beautiful toys. Dirty little Polly, who stood pointing with her smutty finger, and elbowing her sister to look at the grand doll dressed in muslin and ribbon, only gazed at it in a sort of ecstatic rapture, and had no more idea, indeed far less, of having it for her very own, than little Lady Edith had of owning the Crystal Palace. Pence, scanty, hard-earned pence, were too much wanted for bread and food, to be easily got to lay out even in two half-penny dolls in a year! But when a happy piece of good fortune did come about, and these poor little creatures really had a whole penny they could call their own, oh, how difficult it was to spend it! How much they wanted for it! and what a business it was to decide what it should be laid out in! And the one-jointed doll or penny cart was like a pot of gold to its happy little owner for months afterwards!

"Rose had other friends as well, however, as these poor little ragged customers, for her pleasant face and gentle voice made her popular with all, and she had a tasteful way of arranging the one window of the toy-shop that made it quite attractive to older eyes than the children. One day in late autumn, a lady, with a nurse and a little girl, paused before it for a moment, and after a brief inspection they came into the shop.

"'I think a box of tea-things will be almost the best thing for her, Lee,' said the lady to her nurse.

"'I sould ike a bots of tea-sings wey mush!' said the little thing, as the servant sat down, and placed her on her lap.

"'So you shall have some, my pet, and then you will be able to make tea for all the dollies,' replied the nurse.

"'Have you any boxes of wooden tea-things?' asked the lady.

"Rose placed before them a tolerably large assortment; some made of china, very brightly ornamented with pink and blue flowers; some made of glass, white with tiny gold sprays and stars, but these were voted dangerous for baby, because they would break easily, and might cut her little fat hands. Then the wooden sets were examined, but they were painted freely, and mamma and nurse thought they might go to the rosy mouth more closely and often than would be quite wholesome, and baby would not look at the plain, white Swiss carved tea-sets, pretty as they were.

"'Fower ike those, wey pitty,' cried she, eagerly, as Rose brought out our box of large polished leaden tea-things.

"'Then she shall have them!' decided Mamma at once, 'and a very good choice too, Lee, don't you think so? They will be quite safe, and neither break nor spoil so easily as the rest. How much are they? I will take these please!'

"And so Rose packed us carefully up in paper and gave us to the nurse, who, taking up the little girl, carefully tied on her warm fur cape and carried her after the lady. They walked for a short distance, and then stopped at the door of a house in a handsome square. The lady's beautiful dress and elegant air had somewhat prepared me for our new home, which was one of luxury. The lady, after tenderly kissing the little one, stopped at the door of her dressing room, while the nurse and my new owner mounted another flight, and reached the spacious and airy day nursery. The little rosy girl was rolled out of all her velvet wraps, and a very pretty snowy embroidered pinafore was put on her, after her glossy bright flaxen curls had been carefully arranged by the nurse. The little thing had borne all this very impatiently, and had fretted and fidgeted to get away to her new toys; but her nurse would not let her go till she was "made tidy," as she called it.

"'You shall have your little table, Miss Lily,' said she, 'and make tea till bedtime afterwards, if you like, but you must stand still first, like a lady, and be made to look neat. Don't you know mamma never goes down to breakfast or dinner till Lance has dressed her and done her hair?'

"But when these operations were all over, Nurse set out the little table, and covered it with a clean towel for a table cloth, and placed Lily's pretty wicker chair beside it. And when the real nursery teatime came, she gave Lily a lump of sugar, broken into little bits with the scissors, and two nice, dry biscuits to play with. So fat little Lily was mightily contented, and spread out her toys, and played at making tea for her dolls, while she herself ate up the biscuits and sugar with great delight. And by-and-bye Mamma came up to see how all was going on, before she went down to dinner, and she found her pet, trotting round the little table and humming like a big humble bee.

"And so the time went merrily by, and if we had a few misfortunes, still we got on pretty well. To be sure, I gained this great dint in my side owing to my little mistress setting the leg of her chair suddenly on me. And some of the saucers and plates were swept up with the dust, and thrown away by a new, careless nursery maid. But on the whole we were rather well off, for Nurse was a patient, orderly woman, and went round the day nursery every evening herself, picking up the pet's playthings and putting them away.

"And as for dear little merry Lily, she grew and throve, like a sweet-tempered child as she was, as fair as her namesake blossoms. She had called herself "Fower" in her childish talk, because Lily was not easily managed by her little tongue, and she had quite understood that she was called after the pretty-looking, innocent, white flowers that blossomed in the same month as her birthday fell in, the merry month of May.

"One unfortunate day when we had been there some time, to the amazement of Nurse, she got up in such a fretful, cross humour nothing would pacify her. This was unusual, and so was her turning away from her nice bread and milk, and crying peevishly when she was spoken to. The poor child was evidently ailing, and Nurse lost no time in sending down word of it to her mistress. The fond mother hurried upstairs, but little Lily would only cling to her and sob, and bury her flushed face on her shoulder. So the doctor was sent for in haste, and he came quickly, and pronounced that the little one was sickening for some illness; measles, he hoped, but he could not positively say. So poor Mamma sat there, and gave Lily the medicine, and tried to amuse her with setting us in order before her. But Lily pushed us all away so hastily that we rolled to all corners of the room, and Nurse was too busy and sad to pick us up in a hurry that day, or for many days after.

"For poor little Lily grew worse, and the doctor pronounced it to be fever, and of a very severe kind. Days and days the little feverish head tossed wearily on the pillow, and then all the golden curls were cut off, matted as they were, and laid aside carefully in a drawer by poor Nurse, who cried over them as if her heart would break. The fever subsided, but the little exhausted body had not strength to recover from it, and she grew daily weaker, quite too weak to be removed to a fresh air. Poor Nurse picked us up one night, half unconsciously, and put us back in the old toy drawer, where we remained, till one afternoon she came hastily to fetch us out again. She carried us downstairs into the beautiful bed-room where Mrs. Arden slept. But both Papa and Mamma were too anxious about their only darling to be very particular about their own comfort, and so her father slept in his dressing-room close by, while the mother kept a ceaseless watch by the sick bed.

"When the lid was taken off, and nurse turned us out on the white counterpane, I could hardly recognise my little mistress. Did these sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, these little wasted hands belong to the "Fower," as she had called herself? She was indeed a faded flower, a drooping lily, and her bright, golden curls were all gone, like her rosy, childish bloom. But sickness had not been able to subdue the innocent, loving nature and bright spirit; and though the smile on her pale little mouth made her mother turn away in tears, it was the same happy tone in the weak thread of a voice that whispered: —

"'Fower make tea now! Fower been so sick, but see like some tea! mother make it now!' and the little head, shorn so sadly of its golden glories, fell back weakly on the pillow, and the sudden gleam of light died out of the blue eyes.

"'Yes, dear one, mother will make tea for "Flower," so many cups; and when Lily gets better and grows a strong girl again, mother and she will have feasts every day, and all day long.'

"'Fower like that, but so tired;' breathed the little one, feebly, and so Nurse hastened to catch us all up from the bed, and hurriedly cramming us into the box, she put us on the dressing table.

"Next day "Fower" seemed to brighten up a little, and when we were laid out on the bed, she took us up languidly, and pretended to drink. But she was soon weary, and even our slight weight was too heavy for the frail hand. And so day after day passed by with no great change, finding us each morning laid out on the bed, near the little weary hands, tired of doing nothing; and afternoon saw us gathered away, while the curtains were drawn across the window to keep out the bright glare of the spring sunshine. And day by day the tender mother hoped on, while the more experienced Nurse shook her head, and the skilful doctor was silent, though so very gentle with the anxious mother and the little drooping child.

"At last a day came, one of the early ones in May, when even Lee thought Lily looked clearer and brighter. Papa brought in a bunch of the finest lilies of the valley from Covent Garden Market, and his poor, wan little "Fower" was delighted with them.

"'It will be her birthday in a week,' said her mother, cheerfully; 'Papa must bring her some more then. I hope Lily will be better, and able to sit up then!'

"'Fower have a gand tea party, and pum take, so fine! where's my tea-fings?'

"Nurse brought out the pet playthings, and arranged them on the bed before little "Fower," and Papa went off in quite gay spirits to his business. And Mamma took out a little white frock she had been embroidering for "Fower's" birthday wear, and which had been laid away for a long while out of sight. Nurse seemed to have no very settled purpose in the work way, and stole quietly about, arranging everything in a still dreamy kind of fashion. Meanwhile little "Fower" lay back in the soft bed, supported on downy pillows, and with pale pink lined muslin curtains floating round her. Her blue eyes rested upon us with a bright, far-away look that did not last long, as the fingers of one hand played with us, the other holding the bunch of lilies.

"Presently Nurse came rapidly over. 'The dear child is fainting!' she said, as she held up the little shorn head.

"'Fower thirsty!' murmured the little voice, like a faint sigh, as the blue eyes seemed to lose all their light, and the lilies dropped out of the open fingers.

"'Lily, my Lily!' cried the poor mother, eagerly, 'look up, my darling, you are better dear; let mother give her a little water out of her tiny teacup.'

"The kind-hearted nurse laid down the heavy head, and spent all her heartfelt care now on her poor mistress. Her little "Fower" had gone in an angel's hand, to be planted a living blossom in her heavenly Father's garden, where her deep thirst would be satisfied quite, and the shining robe of the white lilies of heaven was waiting for her.

"The little worn-out, earthly form was laid to rest with the bunch of lilies in the cold hands, and a wreath of fresh-gathered flowers on her head. And poor Nurse, thoughtfully gathered up all the toys that the little one had played with, and put them carefully out of the desolate mother's sight. And in after years I heard that other little blossoms came to fill up that grand nursery, but Nurse never loved them as she did little "Fower," and the mother gave her all the toys, very tearfully.

"'I don't like to hoard them up,' she said, 'for after all I need no memorials to remind me of my Lily, and I like to think of her growing now a sweet, fair flower in her heavenly Father's garden, and yet I could not bear to see all these things played with and thrown about in the nursery. So take them, Nurse, and let them give pleasure to other little ones.'

"And thus Nurse Lee took charge of us, and one evening coming to drink tea in Mrs. Spenser's nursery, she brought us all in our box for Miss Celia, who was then a little girl. But since she grew older, we were stuffed away by chance in this old cupboard. I told you all fairly that mine was a melancholy story," added the Teapot, in an injured sort of voice, "and you see I am right, and now I've done!"

The rest of the Toys did not make much remark, for they were all rather saddened by the story of little "Fower," but the Ball, who could not be very grave for long together, bounced up briskly, and told the Teapot, she was entitled to call on any of the rest of the company for a story in turn.

"I would rather not," replied the Teapot, eagerly; "I am but a foolish body at all such formal doings. Pray let the next in turn favour us."

Then the Ball, rather afraid of a discussion, turned it off with a joke and said: —

"Well, then, in your name I will call upon the Kite for a story, for, as he flies so high, he can't be very nervous, and no doubt he has seen a good deal in high latitudes, that we shall be glad to hear!"

The Kite waved a graceful bow all round, and professed his entire readiness to be at the service of the company.

CHAPTER V.

THE MAKING OF THE KITE BY THE HOME CIRCLE

"I will begin," said he, "by describing my first appearance in my present form. Never did a large ship launch or the building of a great mansion require more care and pains, or entirely engross more workmen than I did in my construction. My architect-in-chief, I must tell you, was George Vernon, Esquire, commonly called "Uncle Gee," and the workmen he employed under his orders were as follows. Foreman, or rather forewoman, Mrs. Tufnell, otherwise called indifferently, mother, mamma, or mummy; and as workpeople, Bob, aged eleven; Tom, aged ten; Mary, alias Polly, aged nine; Jeanie, usually termed "Jean," aged eight; Theodore, popularly christened "Dora," because he was a little given to tearfulness and whines, aged seven; and lastly little Lucy, who still bore the name of "baby", and who numbered five summers.

"Now Uncle Gee had come home for his holidays, for though he was nearly grown up, and seemed a giant in cleverness to all his little nephews and nieces, he was still at Oxford, and working hard at his studies. But he was very fond of all the little folks at Summerfield Rectory, and the days to the long vacation were nearly as eagerly counted by Uncle Gee, even amidst his more serious business, as by the flock of eager little adorers at the quiet home in the west. Everything that was nice and pleasant was deferred until his arrival, and a queer variety of treasures were hoarded up for his inspection long before he came.

"And Uncle Gee amply rewarded his faithful adherents, for when he came, he brought universal sunshine with him, and was as ready to enter into all their pursuits and share all their games as the veriest child amongst them. He was the best teacher of trapbat and rounders Bob and Tom knew for miles round; and yet he was as skilful and neathanded at repairing the damages in Mary's doll house, and the fractures of baby's doll, so that he might have been a carpenter by trade.

"So when at teatime, one summer evening, Mamma said to the children, who were all round the large long table, 'To-morrow Uncle Gee is coming!' they all burst out in one regular shout of delight, for this time he had gone on a visit to a friend first, and his young relations' calculations had been all put out, and they had been waiting day after day in the vain hope of seeing him. The noise and chatter round the tea table that evening were really deafening, and would have been quite annoying to anyone but Mamma, who smiled, and said it was a little taste of preparation for the uproar that always lasted all through Uncle Gee's visit.

"And next day he came, to the great delight of all the young folks, and if he had been nearly as patient as Mamma, and quite as brave as Papa, (who did not even fear mad bulls, said baby!) why he would have been driven deaf, dumb, and blind, by all the voices talking in their loudest keys at once, or else would have expected to be torn in pieces by all the eager hands that clung to him and pulled him about. I think Papa and Mamma, and Uncle Gee too, in spite of all their kindness and affection for the uproarious little mob, were thankful enough when the children's bedtime came, and they were all taken off, loudly declaring that it was not time yet.

"Next morning they were all up like larks, and had finished dressing sooner than usual, but, to their great horror, they looked out and saw the sky covered with leaden clouds, and heard the steady, heavy drops of rain falling on the sky-light over the staircase.

"'What a nuisance,' growled Bob and Tom, 'when we wanted to try the new field, and Uncle Gee promised to have a game of cricket with us!'

"'O dear,' said Mary, in dismay, 'and I wanted to show him the new hammock swing Papa has given us!'

"'We've lost our swing for certain,' said Jeanie, who was a regular romp; 'what a bother!'

"'Rain, rain, go to Spain,' chanted Baby, in her squeaky voice – while Dora joined in chorus.

"'Who's singing that contraband rhyme?' said Papa, coming in; 'I'm too thankful for the rain for the sake of my peas and potatoes!'

"'And the strawberries too,' chimed in Mamma; 'just think, children, how they were shrivelling for want of rain.'

"'But we can't get out,' bawled all the children, 'and now Uncle Gee's come we had such lots of things to show him!'

"'What's the matter now?' said Uncle Gee, coming in. 'All this racket about a little rain! Why, I was just thinking, while I was dressing, what a jolly day it would be to make a Kite!'

"'Make a Kite!' shouted Bob; 'O how stunning; O Uncle Gee, can you show us how to do it?'

"'I think I can, Bob,' replied his Uncle, 'but at any rate we'll try, and with Mamma's help perhaps we can manage it. I dare say she will let us have the school-room to make all our litters in, and I shall want every man jack of you to help!'

"'Am I man jack too, Uncle Gee?' asked Baby, very anxiously.

"'I should think so,' said Uncle Gee, kissing her, 'a very useful one too; you shall help with the fine fringy tail!'

"And when breakfast was over, to work they all went. Papa found some capital slips of light thin wood, and lent his best knife into the bargain. Mamma contributed some beautiful white glazed lining to cover the frame with, and lent her nice glue pot as well. Uncle Gee soon had the long table in the school-room covered with all sorts of things, and had set everybody to work as well. Bob and Tom busily hammered, fixed, planed, and cut, till they hindered Uncle Gee terribly; and when he saw Mary take up the scissors, and begin to measure the calico, he stopped short, and called a truce.

"'Now,' said he, 'if all are going to be at work, and no one master, we shall soon get into a fix, and knock over the whole concern. If we are to get the Kite made to-day, you must all obey orders. Mary, you and Jeanie can find me some strips of coloured paper, can't you, for the tail; and Dora, ask Nelson if she can let us have a long ball of string.'

"And so the work went on merrily. Bob and Tom doing the looking on, and Mary and Jean smoothing and snipping the bits for the tail, and making the tassel for the end. Dora fetched out a box of colours of his own, and suggested painting a face on it.

"'Capital!' cried Uncle Gee; 'and I'll tell you how you can make yourself useful, Dora, and that's by rubbing up a lot of colour on the back of a clean plate, I'll show you how;' and so to work Dora went with a will, and soon had a rare quantity all ready for the skilful hand of the artist.

"Meanwhile, under Uncle Gee's superintendence, and with Mamma's help, Polly and Jean had supplied the long piece of string, provided for the tail with its cross pieces of paper to serve as light weights, and they were now busily snipping some very fine red paper Mamma had routed out from amongst her hoards for them, in order to make a grand tassel to finish the tail with.

"'Does not this remind you of our own old days?' said Mamma to Uncle Gee, as she came in for awhile to help in the interval of her busy morning occupations.

"'Don't you remember what trouble we used to take with our toys and playthings; and how seldom we were able to buy any real toys. I do think children have many more than are good for them,' continued she.