My
playmates, two of the neighbors' children, were standing as usual by me
and staring at me while I played, without saying one word. They never
seemed to take the interest in my plays that I thought they deserved. They
stood and looked at me with their big eyes, no matter what I did, and it
was very annoying to me.

"Well, this evening, I was sitting there, on the ground, with my dolls all
placed in a circle, when a lady came into the garden and asked to see my
father. Before I could reply, a child whom she was leading by the hand,
came running to my side, squatted down by me, and began to examine
everything. I had so arranged my stones that each flat one had another
stuck into the ground edgewise behind it, so that the doll could be placed
leaning back against it as if it were a chair. The child was delighted
with this arrangement, and joined in my play at once with the liveliest
interest, while on my side I was so charmed with the little stranger's
looks and ways, with her pretty floating curls and her sweet voice that I
forgot everything else, and looked on bewitched, while she made the dolls
say and do all sorts of things that I had never thought of before. I was
quite startled when the lady again asked where she could find my father.

"From that day forth Lili and I were inseparable friends, and a rich and
happy life was opened to me in her lovely home, such as I had never known
nor thought of. I shall never forget the delightful, untroubled days which
I spent in that beautiful house. I was almost as much loved and petted as
if I had been Lili's own sister. Her parents had come from North Germany.
Her father had been induced to buy the factory by the advice of an
acquaintance, and they expected to remain permanently in our neighborhood.
Lili was an only child, and having been hitherto without companionship of
her own age, she clung to me very closely, and I returned her affection
with equal fervor.

"What good, kind people her parents were! They asked as a great favor that
I might make long visits at their house, and my parents allowed me to
pass weeks at a time with my newly found friends. Those visits seemed to
me like prolonged festivals. Such lovely toys and playthings as Lili had!
I had never even dreamed of anything like them. I shall never forget the
innumerable figures cut from fashion plates which we used for paper dolls!
We each had a large family of them, with all their kindred and relatives,
each on