neck, and lost off her head. The head was tied on with a string, but it kept falling off while the family were at play; but Miss Susie did not seem to mind it at all.

She got along a great deal better without her head than you and I could without ours. Indeed, she wore the same smile upon her face whether the head was on or off—which teaches us that we ought always to be cheerful in misfortune.

Besides these fine young ladies there were two or three rag babies; but as you could not tell by the looks of them what they were thinking about, I will not say any thing about them. They had no virtues worth telling; they never ate soup with a fork, or gave money to the poor.

Some of my readers may not think much of this family of dollies, but I am sure Katy and Nellie had fine times with them. They used to spend hours together with them, and the dollies used to do every thing that any body could do.

Miss Fanny used to visit a great deal, in spite of her dirty, ragged clothes; so did Miss Lucy, with two holes in her head, and Miss Mary, with her broken leg, and Miss Susie, with her broken neck. All of them used to go a-visiting, except Miss Dinah, and she, being a black girl, had to do the sweeping and tend the door.

These ladies were all of them so bashful that they would not speak in company, and Katy and Nellie had to do all the talking for them.

But they used to "make believe" the dollies talked, and this did just as well. They used to say just such things as the ladies did who called on Mrs. Green, and never left without being urged to stay longer, and also to call again; which they always promised to do.

On the whole, they were very wonderful dollies; at least they were until Lady Jane came, and she was such a fine lady, with her white silk dress and her real hair, that none of them could shine after that.

"Lend us your Dolly."

II.

One day Flora Lee came to see Nellie Green, and to spend the afternoon with her. It was in the month of November, and the weather was too cold to permit them to play in the garden; so they said they would have a good time in the house.

Katy Green had to go away, and could not play with them. Nellie was very sorry for this, for she not only liked to have her sister with her, but she also wanted the company of Lady Jane.

She told Flora how sorry she was, and they agreed that it was too bad Katy had to go away, for she was older than they, and could help them a great deal in their plays. Besides, they wanted one fine lady among the dollies, for they had a certain play which required just such a person.

"I wish I had brought Miss Dolly with me. I guess she is fine enough," said Flora.

"I wish you had," replied Nellie; "but as you have not, we can't help it now. I dare say Miss Fanny will do."

"I'll tell you what you can do, Nellie."

"What?"

"You can just ask Katy to lend you her dolly. We won't hurt her a