This is a really fun concept for a story, told through a doll's eyes, about all the adventures her multiple owners take her on. Hitty, the doll, has finally come to "live" in an antique shop. She is put on the owner's desk every night for safe keeping and so decides to write her memoirs. It is a fast moving story that covers more than just tea parties and embraces on a stormy nights. She provides commentary on social, fashion and technological advances. Hitty's observations about advances made in transportation may be lost on children who aren't yet aware that there was a time before cares. A logical child will not find the book very suspenseful because even when Hitty is in a difficult situation one can surmise that she'll be rescued or she wouldn't be writing the story. Hitty herself tells us on page 63, "Well, as you have guessed, they found me, else how should I be writing my memoirs today?" So really the question becomes how, when and by whom. However I'm certain lots of children aren't quite so foresighted and therefore this could be a very engaging read for a lot of children and even a real nail-biter for some. This (and many books of the time) mention girls working on "samplers" - needlework. On page 97 is a nice illustration of a sampler with Hitty standing in front looking at it. As a doll Hitty has a great attitude. Like when she moves from the Van Rensselaer house that employed their own seamstress to Katie she writes: My clothes were in a deplorable state, but no one seemed to think of doing anything about them, and when i saw the careless way the children went about in rents and rags, i could not feel very hopeful for the future. However, I was warm and safe and Katie lavished much affection upon me, so I could not feel it right to complain, though I could not but have pangs of regret at the loss of my finery. / But I told myself that it is no disgrace to come down a peg or two in the world." (p. 147) Hitty ws initially carved by a peddlar, during a Maine winter, from a piece of mountain-ash wood. Six and a half inches high Hitty claims, "A piece of mountain-ash wood is a good thing to keep close at hand, for it brings luck besides having power against witchcraft and evil." (p. 4) If she's a superstitious doll it's because she heard it from the humans - but the doll also has plenty of religious experiences - much more than the passing superstitious reference. She spends 84 pages with her first owner, seven year old Phoebe Preble. Her officaia name was Mehitabel but it was too long for Phoebe so she became Hitty and that name was embroidered on her chemise which was sewn by Phoebe - to her dismay. her clothes are finally finished on Saturday and Phoebe plays with her a little but then mother puts Hitty in the drawer because Phoebe can't play on Sunday. but Sunday morning Phoebe sneaks into the drawer and hides Hitty in her muff as they go to church. But when Phoebe falls asleep, Hitty falls out of the muff and stays on the floor of the church for many days. Eventually Phoebe confesses and the doll is retrieved but they are not reunited until Phoebe serves her punishment. Other adventures with Phoebe include:
Hitty spends four pages with a "Hindoo" snake charmer before some American missionaries purchase her for their daughter, "Thankful". As Hitty explains on page 93, "If I devote less space to my days with Little Thankful, it is not that I was unhappy during the two years I was her doll but simply that other periods of my life have been more eventful." She was a fourth birthday gift to Thankful and was with her for many religious lessons. Thankful gets ill after her fifth birthday and her parents decide to send her back to America - to live with her grandparents in Philadelphia. Within the first couple of days Thankful goes to a party and the little girls criticize her appearance. Hitty is with her and so supportive: I could not but feel sorry for her during this trying ordeal, for she was quite unequal to answering their jibes. She continued to stare back at the children as if they were strange animals into whose claws she had fallen. I couldn't blame her, and I felt almost relived when after a time they caught sight of me and began to poke fun at my appearance instead, "At least I am going to be some help to her," I thought. "She will be grateful to me when we are home again." Thankful is so ashamed of the doll she shoves her down into the sofa cushions and never retrieves her. After the party the sofa was moved up to the attic. She stays in the sofa for about twenty years. Eventually Clarissa Pryce becomes her new owner. She is a ten year old Quaker girl. With Clarissa she:
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