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Jewett's Poems
ONLY A DOLL!
Sarah O. Jewett Polly, my dolly! why don't you grow?
Are you a dwarf, my Polly?
I'm taller and taller every day;
How high the grass is! -- do you see that?
The flowers are growing like weeds, they say;
The kitten is growing into a cat!
Why don't you grow, my dolly ?Here is a mark upon the wall.
Look for yourself, my Polly!
I made it a year ago, I think.
I've measured you very often, dear,
But, though you've plenty to eat and drink,
You haven't grown a bit for a year.
Why don't you grow, my dolly?Are you never going to try to talk?
You're such a silent Polly!
Are you never going to say a word?
It isn't hard; and oh! don't you see
The parrot is only a little bird,
But he can chatter so easily.
You're quite a dunce, my dolly!Let's go and play by the baby-house;
You are my dearest Polly!
There are other things that do not grow;
Kittens can't talk, and why should you?
You are the prettiest doll I know;
You are a darling -- that is true!
Just as you are, my dolly!
"Only a Doll" appeared in St. Nicholas (5:552) June 1878, with an illustration that is probably by Jessie Curtis, about whom little is known. According to the Dictionary of Woman Artists (G. K. Hall), Curtis worked in Brooklyn in the late nineteenth century as an illustrator of books and New York weekly publications.
Edited by Terry Heller, Coe College.
