have got a man doll too. I have never seen one before. He is not a store doll nor a rag doll either one but a knitted doll made by Aunt Cecelia who knits all the time, saying, Idle hands are the devils workshop. This man doll is the latest thing in knitting, with gray wool pants and jacket, stripes on his sleeve, and a soldiers cap on his head. As for a face, he doesnt have one. It is pure white knit, so I can imagine him any way I want. I can make him up. So sometimes he is gay and smiling while other times he is angry or scornful or curls his lip in a frown.
What is his name? I asked the day Aunt Cecelia finished him up and gave him to us.
Name? Aunt Cecelia looked at me. Why its just a doll Molly.
But he has to have a name, I said. Dolls are supposed to have names.
I know! Mary White cried out from the chair where she sat dressing Fleur. What about Robert E. Lee?
Now girls, I hardly think this is appropriate. Aunt Cecelia bunched all the parts of her face together. Why the General was too fine a man for such silly games as you girls make up, you must put your minds to higher things.
But Mary White and I stared at each other in perfect accord.
Yes , I said.
So he is still Robert E. Lee even though Aunt Cecelia made us put our dolls away that very minute and read the shorter catechism aloud followed by the Ten Commandments which we have to memorize now according to her. Hell looms wide for such frivolous girls as yourselves, she said, with spit bubbling up in the corners of her mouth, while Mary White rolled her eyes up in her head and I started coughing so as not to laugh. But just then a wagon drew up in the lane, and Aunt Cecelia went out to see who it was, so we escaped and ran out to the barn where we played for the rest of the morning.
It is easy to get away from Aunt Cecelia because she is so busy with Social Life. Other ladys are always coming to call now with their cartes de visite.
Who the hell are all these people? I’d like to know. Hell, I live here, says Uncle Junius who hates it.
But Aunt Cecelia does not care. She thinks she knows everything. I shall not let you fester away here as you have been doing Brother, she says. Nor must you lower your standards one iota. We shall make a new life in due course. Aunt Cecelia specializes in rising to the occasion and keeping up standards. This takes a lot of time so we are mostly free to do what we want if we will only stay out of her hair. This is easy. It is a big plantation, and we are all over it. No one ever knows where we are!
So Robert E. Lee has been married again and again, to Margaret and Fleur and the neighbor girls dolls when they come to visit with their mothers. He has even married Victoria and Blanches rag dolls, though they dont have fancy dresses. But Mary White insists that they should have weddings anyway, she makes up long love stories for them as well as for Margaret and Fleur. Mary White adores love stories.
She met him by the rushing stream where she was washing clothes, Mary White began one hot afternoon, walking Blanches sad little doll Sarah along the riverbank. It was so hot, and Sarah was so tired, but she was just a poor girl who had to work for her food. So Sarah was scrubbing and crying when here came a gentleman soldier, his jacket all covered with blood. He justabout scared her to death! Hello my pretty Miss, he said, could I trouble you to wash the blood from my jacket? For I have been in a fearsome battle where I killed a lot of men.
Why yes Sir, Sarah said, and she did, and she bandaged up his arm too and gave him some pound cake and boiled custard for supper which he liked a great deal.
Are you married? He asked her then, and she hid her face and said, No Sir. Why then I hope you will do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Robert E. Lee, he said, and Sarah said Why yes Sir, and the wedding plans began.
I laid Sarah and Robert E. Lee down on the mossy bank while we were building the wedding bower out of sticks but Mary White
What is his name? I asked the day Aunt Cecelia finished him up and gave him to us.
Name? Aunt Cecelia looked at me. Why its just a doll Molly.
But he has to have a name, I said. Dolls are supposed to have names.
I know! Mary White cried out from the chair where she sat dressing Fleur. What about Robert E. Lee?
Now girls, I hardly think this is appropriate. Aunt Cecelia bunched all the parts of her face together. Why the General was too fine a man for such silly games as you girls make up, you must put your minds to higher things.
But Mary White and I stared at each other in perfect accord.
Yes , I said.
So he is still Robert E. Lee even though Aunt Cecelia made us put our dolls away that very minute and read the shorter catechism aloud followed by the Ten Commandments which we have to memorize now according to her. Hell looms wide for such frivolous girls as yourselves, she said, with spit bubbling up in the corners of her mouth, while Mary White rolled her eyes up in her head and I started coughing so as not to laugh. But just then a wagon drew up in the lane, and Aunt Cecelia went out to see who it was, so we escaped and ran out to the barn where we played for the rest of the morning.
It is easy to get away from Aunt Cecelia because she is so busy with Social Life. Other ladys are always coming to call now with their cartes de visite.
Who the hell are all these people? I’d like to know. Hell, I live here, says Uncle Junius who hates it.
But Aunt Cecelia does not care. She thinks she knows everything. I shall not let you fester away here as you have been doing Brother, she says. Nor must you lower your standards one iota. We shall make a new life in due course. Aunt Cecelia specializes in rising to the occasion and keeping up standards. This takes a lot of time so we are mostly free to do what we want if we will only stay out of her hair. This is easy. It is a big plantation, and we are all over it. No one ever knows where we are!
So Robert E. Lee has been married again and again, to Margaret and Fleur and the neighbor girls dolls when they come to visit with their mothers. He has even married Victoria and Blanches rag dolls, though they dont have fancy dresses. But Mary White insists that they should have weddings anyway, she makes up long love stories for them as well as for Margaret and Fleur. Mary White adores love stories.
She met him by the rushing stream where she was washing clothes, Mary White began one hot afternoon, walking Blanches sad little doll Sarah along the riverbank. It was so hot, and Sarah was so tired, but she was just a poor girl who had to work for her food. So Sarah was scrubbing and crying when here came a gentleman soldier, his jacket all covered with blood. He justabout scared her to death! Hello my pretty Miss, he said, could I trouble you to wash the blood from my jacket? For I have been in a fearsome battle where I killed a lot of men.
Why yes Sir, Sarah said, and she did, and she bandaged up his arm too and gave him some pound cake and boiled custard for supper which he liked a great deal.
Are you married? He asked her then, and she hid her face and said, No Sir. Why then I hope you will do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Robert E. Lee, he said, and Sarah said Why yes Sir, and the wedding plans began.
I laid Sarah and Robert E. Lee down on the mossy bank while we were building the wedding bower out of sticks but Mary White
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