6 THE DOLL AND HER FRIENDS.

powers of vision strengthened, my horizon extended,
and I perceived that portions of space were allotted
to many other objects. I descried, at various dis-
tances, aids to amusements in endless succession,—
balls, bats, battledores, boxes, bags, and baskets ;
carts, cradles, and cups and saucers. I did not then
know any thing of the alphabet, and I cannot say
that I have quite mastered it even now; but if I
were learned enough, I am sure I could go from
A to Z, as initial letters of the wonders with which
I soon made acquaintance. |

Not that I at once became aware of the uses,
or even the names, of all I saw. No one took the
trouble to teach me; and it was only by dint of my
own intense observation that I gained any know-
ledge at all. I did not at first even know that I
was a doll. But I made the most of opportunities,
and my mind gradually expanded.

I first learned to distinguish human beings.
Their powers of motion made a decided difference -
between them and the other surrounding objects,
and naturally my attention was early turned to-
wards the actions of the shopwoman on whose stall
I lived. She covered me and my companions with
a large cloth every night, and restored the daylight
to us in the morning. We were all perfectly help-
less without her, and absolutely under her control.