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[Illustration: Miss Fanny and others.]

[Illustration: RIVERDALE STORY BOOKS

DOLLY & I

Boston, Lee & Shepard.]




The Riverdale Books.

DOLLY AND I.

A STORY FOR LITTLE FOLKS.

BY

OLIVER OPTIC,

          AUTHOR OF "THE BOAT CLUB," "ALL ABOARD," "NOW OR NEVER," "TRY
          AGAIN," "POOR AND PROUD," "LITTLE BY LITTLE," &c.

          BOSTON:
          LEE AND SHEPARD,
          (SUCCESSORS TO PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO.)
          1864


   Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by

   WILLIAM T. ADAMS,

   In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
        Massachusetts.

   ELECTROTYPED AT THE
   BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.




DOLLY AND I.




I.


Do you know what _envy_ means? I hope you have never felt it, for it is
a very wicked feeling. It is being sorry when another has any good
thing. Perhaps you will know better what the word means when you have
read my story; and I hope it will help you to keep the feeling away from
your own heart.

Not far from Mr. Lee's house, in Riverdale, lived a man by the name of
Green. He was the agent of one of the factories in the village. Mr.
Green had two little girls and three sons. The boys have nothing to do
with my story, and for that reason I shall not say a great deal about
them.

Katy, Mr. Green's older daughter, was ten years old. She was a pretty
good girl, but she did not like to have others get good things, when she
did not have any herself. If any person gave one of her brothers an
apple, or an orange, she seemed to think she ought to have it.

When she was a baby, she used to cry for every thing she saw, and would
give her parents no peace till they gave it to her. I am sorry to say
they were sometimes very weak on this point, and gave her things which
she ought not to have had, just to quiet her.

Her father and mother hoped, when she grew older, she would not want
every thing that belonged to her brothers. If Charles had a plaything,
Katy wanted it, and would cry till she got it. Very often, just to make
her stop crying, her mother made poor Charley give up the thing.

But as Katy grew older, she seemed to want every thing that others had
just as much as ever. She was now ten years old, and still she did not
like to see others have any thing which she could not have. It is true
she did not always say so, but she felt it just as much, and was very
apt to be cross and sullen towards those whom she envied.

Nellie Green was not at all like her sister. She was only eight years
old, but there was not a bit of envy in her. She would give a part, and
often the whole, of her apples, oranges, candy, and playthings to her
sister, and to her brothers. She liked to see them happy, and when
Charley ate an apple, it tasted just as good to her as though she were
eating it herself.

She was not selfish. She would always divide her good things with her
friends. Did you ever see a little boy or a little girl eating an apple
or some candy, and another little boy or girl standing by, and looking
just as if he wanted some?

Nellie always gave her friends a part, and then she not only enjoyed
what she ate herself, but she enjoyed what they ate. This is the way to
make apples, oranges, and candy taste good.

One New Year's Day, Katy's aunt, after whom she was named, sent her a
beautiful wax doll. It was a very pretty doll, and the little girl was
the happiest child in Riverdale when the welcome present reached her.

There was another little girl in Riverdale who was almost if not quite
as happy; and that was Nellie, her sister. It is true, the doll was not
for her; she did not own any of it, and Katy would hardly let her touch
it; but for all this, Nellie was pleased to see her sister so happy.

The dolly's name was Lady Jane; for Katy thought, as she was a very
fine doll, she ought to have a very fine name. So, when she spoke to the
doll,--and she talked a great deal with her,--she always called her Lady
Jane.

The two little girls had five or six other dolls, but none of them were
any thing near such fine ladies as Lady Jane. Their heads were made of
porcelain, or rubber, or composition, and they had grown so old that
they were really ugly.

Miss Lucy, who had a rubber head, looked as though she "had