2 THE DOLL AND HER FRIENDS.

rather in the minds of our admirers than in our own
persons.

We are a race of mere dependents ; some might
even call us slaves. Unable to change our place.or
move: hand or foot at our own pleasure, and forced
to submit to every caprice of our possessors, we can-
not be said to have even a will of our own. But
every condition has its share of good and evil, and
I have often considered my helplessness and depend-
ence as mere trifles compared with the troubles to
which poor sensitive human being’s are subject.

Pain, sickness, or fatigue I never knew. While
a fidgetty child cannot keep still for two minutes
at a time, I sit contentedly for days together in the
same attitude; and I have before now seen one
of those irritable young mortals cry at a scratch,
while I was bearing needles drawn in and out of
every part of my body, or sitting with a pin run
straight through my heart, calmly congratulating
myself on being free from the inconveniences of
flesh and blood.

Of negative merits I possess a good share. I
am never out of humour, never impatient, never
mischievous, noisy, nor intrusive; and though I
and* “my fellows cannot lay claim to brilliant powers
either in word or deed, we may boast of the same
qualifications as our wittiest king, for certainly none