
THE STORY of LIVE DOLLS by Josephine Scribner Gates
This is from a story book my mom gave to me that her mother had given to her. It was originally published in 1901. It scarred me for life:
One day the children of the village find posters plastered all over town: “NOTICE: On the morning of June the Fourth all the dolls in the village of Cloverdale will come alive!” (Oh God, nooooo!) All the children are very excited. The next day, Janie, the protagonist, wakes to find her “Miss Dollie” quite alive and, if I may, aggressively affectionate. Janie and the children of the village have a lovely morning with their dolls. Here is where the story gets F*CKED-UP… The children discover “Doll Farm” where the Queen of Dolls lives and cares for all the dollies of the land when they come to life every summer for a day. In a special room in Doll Farm is “Doll Hospital” where dolls that have been mangled and neglected writhe in agony and wait for the Queen to mend them. Unfortunately, dolls with no eyes must remain blind, the dolls with no legs will never walk, and the poor little dollie they found buried behind the potter’s shed is dead and there is nothing the Queen can do. The children are naturally very upset to see the dolls suffering and feel quite ashamed to have mistreated them so, but the dolls forgive them and they all spend a lovely day together at the seashore. (All except for the dead one.)