MOST little girls love dolls and there are very few in this country who do not possess, at least, one doll, large or small. Some girls like large dolls, that can wear the clothes of a real baby, and some girls like very small ones, that can be carried in their pockets. Playing with dolls is not confined to English or American children, the little Indian girls have their dolls carved out of wood, and with gay colored dresses and blankets. The girls of China and Japan also, have their dolls, of which most of you have seen specimens. But perhaps Germany is the greatest country in the world for dolls, and many of those sold in the shops here, are manufactured there. When the late Queen Victoria was a little girl, she had a great many dolls, most of them were made of wood, and she delighted in making clothes for them. These dolls are still to be seen in England.
Many years ago now, perhaps 75 or 80, there lived in England a little girl named Caroline. She was the youngest daughter in a large family, and her mother’s special pet and darling. She had everything her heart could desire, but her favorite plaything was a large doll. It was a quaint looking doll, not at all like those we see now. Its body was made of cotton, stuffed with hair. It had pink kid arms, and a plaster head covered with wax, with two very black glass eyes; its hair was composed of short brown curls, sewed on to a cotton cap, which was glued on to its head. What a funny doll, you say! Yes, it was a strange doll, but it looked very beautiful to Caroline, and I daresay it was the best that could be bought at the time. This little girl was not like some children I know, who cannot sew at all; she could sew beautifully and she took great pains with her dolly’s wardrobe. She had never been very strong and when about twelve years old, she got so weak and sick that she was seldom off the sofa. I am sure she found great pleasure in sewing for her doll then, and many pretty garments she made: a silk dress, a muslin dress, a quaint blue silk hat, two fine warm cloaks and lots of nice underclothes. Then she had a little gold chain to put around her neck, and a pair of blue kid shoes for her feet.
But Caroline had another companion during her long illness, besides her doll, and one she loved even better. Can you guess what it was? Do you think it was a kitten, or a bird, or a little dog? She may have had all these, but what she loved better than all was her Bible. And what a happy thing for the rich child, or indeed any child, to have such a possession; in it she learned of the gentle, tender Jesus who put His hands on the little children and blessed them, and of how He called a little child to Him, and took him in His arms. There the weary child would read of the sweet rest awaiting her, and of the time, not far away, when she would have no more pain, and shed no more tears. Do you think it was because Caroline was a good little girl, gentle and obedient, that she could look forward to going to heaven? Oh, no, her heart was just the same as yours or mine, and the Scripture has told us plainly that “There is none good, no not one.” Nor could Caroline comfort herself by saying, “I have tried to be good, and God will not mind about the naughty things I have done.” No, the Bible tells us again, that God “cannot look upon sin,” so we know that we could ‘not be in heaven in His presence, with one sin upon us. But in her Bible this little girl learned how Jesus had been punished for her sins; how God laid upon Him, the Holy Spotless One, the iniquity of us all. Caroline believed that ALL sin took in her sin too, and she knew that God would not punish her, when He had already punished His well-beloved Son, so she could rest happily upon His word.
Day by day she grew weaker, until at last the Lord took His little lamb home to be with Himself forever. She had to leave her happy home, her dear mother, her brothers and sisters, her doll with all its pretty clothes; but do you think she has ever wished to come back to this sad sinful world again?
And what became of her doll and her Bible—her two companions during the weary months of her illness? I cannot tell you who had her Bible, but I CAN tell you about her doll. After she was gone, her broken-hearted mother took the doll, and all its clothes, and put them away in a drawer. There they lay year after year. I daresay the mother looked at them sometimes with loving tearful eyes, and they brought before her the picture of her darling lying on her sofa, her little fingers busy over those clothes. Caroline’s brothers and sisters were married, and many bright little grand children played about in the old house, but to none of them did the mother give the doll, or ever show it. But at last she grew very old, and could not go about as formerly. She felt the time was fast approaching when she would join her sweet child, for she, too, knew that her sins were washed away in the blood of Jesus. So after being shut up for over 40 years, Caroline’s doll was brought out, and given to a new mistress, even one of the great grandchildren, and, from her she received much care and love, and often as she handled the old fashioned doll, or put on it the out of date clothing, the child thought tenderly of the dear little girl, so long ago gone to be with Jesus and by and bye when dolls to her were a thing of the past, and she had little girls of her own, she gave the doll to her oldest daughter, to be once more loved and played with. Yes, that old doll is still in existence, and may last many years more, but none of those who were living when it was fresh and new, are living now, “For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever.” Do you not think Caroline has had cause all these years to rejoice that she hearkened to that word, before it was too late? Have you?
ML 10/14/1906