n upon the meagre stipend of the teacher. Thus when in copper-plate
handwriting we find in another six-penny volume the inscription:
"Benjamin H. Bailey, from one he esteems and loves, Mr. Hapgood," we
read between its lines the self-denial practised by Mr. Hapgood, who
possibly received, like many other teachers, but seventy-five cents a
week besides his board and lodging.

Other books afford a glimpse of children's life: the formal every-day
routine, the plays they enjoyed, and their demonstration of a
sensibility as keen as was then in fashion for adults. The "History of a
Doll," lying upon the writer's table, is among the best in this respect.
It was evidently much read by its owner and fairly "loved to pieces."
When it reached this disintegrated stage, a careful mother, or aunt,
sewed it with coarse flax thread inside a home-made cover of bright blue
wall-paper. Although the "History of the Pedigree and Rise of the Pretty
Doll" bears no date, its companion story in the wall-paper wrapper has
the imprint seventeen hundred and ninety-one, and this, together with
the press-work, places it as belonging to the eighteenth century. It
offers to the reader a charming insight into the formality of many an
old-fashioned family: the deportment stiff with the starched customs of
that day, the seriousness of their fun, and the sensibility among little
maidens akin to that exhibited in the heroines of fiction created by
Richardson and Fielding.

The chapter concerning "The Pedigree of the Doll" treats of finding a
branch of a tree by a carver, who was desired by Sir John Amiable to
make one of the best dolls in his power for his "pretty little daughter
who was as good as she was pretty." The carver accordingly took the
branch and began carving out the head, shoulders, body, and legs, which
he soon brought to their proper shape. "He then covered it with a fine,
flesh-colored enamel and painted its cheeks in the most lively manner.
It had the finest black and sparkling eyes that were ever beheld; its
cheeks resembled the blushing rose, its neck the lilly, and its lips the
coral." The doll is presented, and the next chapter tells of "an
assembly of little female gossips in full debate on the clothing of the
doll." "Miss Polly having made her papa a vast number of courtesies for
it, prevailed on her brother to go round to all the little gossips in
the neighborhood, begging their company to tea in the afternoon, in
order to consult