THE

DOLL AND HER FRIENDS,

 

CHAPTER I.

I BELONG to a race the sole end of whose existence
is to give pleasure to others. None will deny the
goodness of such an end, and I flatter myself most
persons will allow that we amply fulfil it. Few of
the female sex especially but will acknowledge, with
either the smile or the sigh called forth by early
recollections, that much of their youthful happiness
was due to our presence ; and some will even 2°0 80
far as to attribute to our influence many a habit of
housewifery, neatness, and industry, which orna-
ments their riper years.

But to our influence, our silent unconscious in-
fluence alone, can such advantages be ascribed ; for
neither example nor precept are in our power ; our
race cannot boast of intellectual endowments; and
though there-are few qualities, moral or mental, that
have not in their turn been imputed to us by partial
friends, truth obliges me to confess that they exist

B