POOR MARY JANE

I

It was the morning of Dorothy's fifth birthday, and she was holding her new doll in her arms. It was a big rag doll with yarn hair and a blue dress.

“Nice baby! Dear baby!” said Dorothy.

Dorothy's mother was watching the little girl. “What will you name her, dear?” she asked.

“Mary Jane,” said Dorothy, looking up with shining eyes. And Mary Jane was the doll's name from that moment.

Dorothy put Mary Jane to bed every night. And when she had a tea party for the dolls, she always gave Mary Jane the best seat.

All the toys in the play-room knew that Dorothy loved Mary Jane more than anything else she had. Everyone in Dorothy's family knew that she loved Mary Jane best, for she played with the rag doll more than with all her other toys.

When a beautiful mama doll came to live with Dorothy, Father asked, “Which doll do you like best?”

Dorothy answered, “Why, my Mary Jane, of course.”

II

After a while a cloth dog came to live in the play-room. Dorothy was very fond of him, too, and she named him Tony.

Soon Tony and Mary Jane were great friends, and they had long talks together when there was no one in the play-room.

The day before Dorothy's next birthday Mary Jane was very sad. “Oh, Tony,” she said,“tomorrow Dorothy will be six years old, and she is going to get a beautiful new doll. Then she will not love me any more.”

“Don't be sad,” said Tony. “Dorothy has a big mama doll now, but she loves you best of all.”

“I can't help being sad,” said Mary Jane. “The new doll will be so pretty that Dorothy will never love me again. Besides, she didn't know that she was going to get the mama doll, but she asked her mother for this doll.”

“Maybe she did not ask for it, Mary Jane. Perhaps you are wrong,” said Tony, trying to comfort poor Mary Jane, who seemed heart-broken.

“Yes, she did, Tony. I heard her. She said something worse than that. It hurts me so that I can't bear to tell you.”

“Oh, please tell me, Mary Jane,” said Tony. “Maybe I can help you. What else did you hear?”

It was some time before Mary Jane could stop her tears and say, “See how straight my hair is! Dorothy asked for a doll with curls.”

III

Tony had never thought of anything as bad as that. He was not surprised that Mary Jane felt sad. At once he tried to make some plans to help her.

After a moment he said, “Let's curl your hair, Mary Jane.”

“It is kind of you to think of that, Tony, but it never could be done. My hair is only yarn. Dorothy wants a doll with real hair that curls. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?” Poor Mary Jane began to cry again, harder than ever.

“I haven't told you,” said Tony, “but I have troubles, too.”

“You, Tony! Why?” asked Mary Jane in surprise, forgetting for a moment how sad she felt.

“Well,” said Tony, “just a few days ago Dorothy's father said to her, ‘How would you like to have a real dog to play with, Dorothy? '”

“And what did Dorothy say?” asked Mary Jane.

“She said, ‘Oh, Father, will you get me one, please? ' Her father smiled and said, ‘Well, you will soon be old enough to have a puppy of your own.' So, you see, I have troubles, too.”

“We have been so happy here,” said Mary Jane, sadly.

“Do you want to know what I think we should do?” asked Tony.

“Yes, yes!” answered Mary Jane.

Tony said, “Tomorrow is Dorothy's birth-day, and she may get the new doll and the real dog. We should run away before they come. Won't that be better than to stay here? Dorothy will never love us after she gets the new things.”Mary Jane said, “I'll go with you, Tony. Perhaps we can find a little girl who has no dog or doll at all. Oh, let us hurry as fast as we can!”

IV

Mary Jane put on her little coat and her hat. Tony took the blanket that Dorothy always wrapped him in at night. Then they were ready to run away.

“How shall we get out of the house?” asked Mary Jane. “Dorothy is fast asleep, but her mother and father are still in the living room. They will see us if we go down the stairs.”

“Why can't we jump out of the back window?”said Tony.

“I believe we can,” answered Mary Jane. “We can go along the road, and no one will see us.”

They hurried to the back window and looked out. Tony said, “It isn't far to the ground. I'll go first.”

He jumped and landed in the soft snow. When Mary Jane saw that Tony was safe, she came flying after him.

“Now let us hurry,” said Tony. They tried to run, but they found that the snow was so deep they could hardly move.

“We aren't any farther from the house, and I'm getting tired,” said Mary Jane in a few minutes.

“So am I,” said Tony. “Are you cold, Mary Jane?”

“No, I'm not cold, but the snow is so deep that I cannot walk.”

“Well, we can sleep here by the steps till the milk-man comes early in the morning,” said Tony. “We can follow the path he makes and get away before people are up. Then we shan't meet anyone.”

“All right, let us do that,” said Mary Jane, who was very tired and sleepy.

Tony wrapped his warm blanket around them, and he and Mary Jane went to sleep by the steps.

V

They were sleeping so well that they never heard the milk-man come. They didn't even hear Dorothy run downstairs to look at her new doll that had real curls.

When Dorothy went upstairs to waken Mary Jane and Tony, and show them her new doll, she could not find them. She called, “Mother, Mother! I can't find Mary Jane and Tony! Where are they?”

Dorothy and Mother and Father looked all over the house for Mary Jane and Tony. But of course they were not found, and Dorothy was very sad.

By and by the maid went out to get the milk, and she saw the rag doll and the cloth dog by the steps, sound asleep. When she took them inside the house, they were still sleeping.

The first thing they knew, Dorothy was saying, as she hugged them tight, “Oh, my dear, dear Mary Jane and Tony! How did you get out in the snow? I was so sad when I could not find you. Mary Jane, I love you more than my new doll with curls.

“And Tony dear, I love you more than I shall ever love the real dog I'm going to get some day. Now come and look at my birthday presents.”

“I wonder,” said Dorothy's mother, “how Mary Jane and Tony ever got out there by the steps.” But Mary Jane and Tony never could tell, and I'm sure that you and I never will.

——Anne Gage