"The Doll Party" letter from grandpa

Dear Children,

       Papa's letter came this morning. I was disappointed in his dog story. I don't suppose  he had a dog when he was a boy, as he had nothing to say about ever having been rabbit hunting when he was young; he surely was a boy, even if it was a long time ago.

       If he ever went rabbit hunting he ought to remember all about it. Your Papa could not have been a very big boy or very old when he was born, else he would know more about dogs, or perhaps, he lived in one of the big towns, about which I am going to write you, sometime, where dogs were not allowed to stay.

       Now, there are about as many little girls in the world as there are little boys, at any rate a good little girl is better than a half dozen bad boys. I am going to write something about dolls. I do not know how many little dollies there are in the world, but there are a great many. I don't know all about how dolls are made, still I do know that they are made, and made mostly for children. Of course, I mean little girls, and I have never met a little girl in all this great big round world but who at some time or other had a little dolly. I wish I could tell you about all the different kind of dolls I have seen, and there are so many pretty names for dolls. Little girls have about as many names for dollies as boys have names for their dogs. You should never give a doll more than one name. Dolls do not know much about names, anyhow, even a short name will in most cases last as long as a dolly does.

       I must tell you about a doll party that your Mama gave when she was a little girl. A great many invitations were sent out; in fact, every little girl in the village was invited, and every little girl came bringing with her one or more dolls. A doll supper was prepared, and, although nearly every dolly came with a new bib or apron of some kind on, not a dolly opened its mouth, and I am going to let you guess who ate the nuts and figs and raisins and other good things. At this doll party, there were many little childish games played, and after supper the dolls were arranged for some kind of services, so they finally agreed to have a doll meeting, and the dollies were seated in chairs, a pulpit was put in shape, made up of some paper boxes; but who would preach? It did not seem well to have a lady doll for a preacher, so a little boy who chanced to happen in, bethought himself that he could supply the needed minister. So, he presented the party the use of his Jumping Jack. "This," said one little girl, "will be just the thing," and they all shouted, "That's all right;" but the Jumping Jack would neither stand up nor lay down, would not sit cross-legged nor look sad; so after several vain efforts on the part of the children to have a church meeting for their dolls, one little girl thoughtfully said: "Girls, this awkward Jack will not do for a preacher for our little dollies, but I‚'ll tell you what we can do - we can make an Evangelist out of him."

       I don't know yet what I am going to write about next time, as much will depend on how Grandma's corns are getting along, and whether she has good luck with her mince pies.

Love, Grandpa.

How to make a jumping jack doll with your grandchild...