The story of a sawdust doll

Toy Town was not a little city off by itself on the shore of some winding river. Nor was Toy Town a place up near the North Pole, where Santa Claus has his workshops for making presents. The Toy Town I am going to tell you about was in a big store. To get to it you went up in an elevator, and, once you were there, you saw the most wonderful and beautiful things you ever dreamed of! There were all sorts of toys, drums that beat a rub-a-dub-dub all by themselves, funny clowns who banged tinkly brass things together when you pushed a spring near their neckties, and many other fascinating playthings.

Toy Town was a wonderful place!

One night, when the elevators had stopped sliding up and down, and when the doors of the big store were closed, and when the lights had been turned low, there was a rattling, a clattering, a rustling and bustling and a whispering and talking on the shelves and counters of Toy Town.

“Has everybody gone?” asked a Sawdust Doll, as she sat stiffly up near a Bold Tin Soldier, whose sword shone faintly in the light of one little electric lamp. The Sawdust Doll was stiff because she had been lying on her back all day.

“Yes, I think every one has gone,” answered a White Rocking Horse, as he moved slowly to and fro on the floor, just under the toy counter. He was too large to be put up on the shelf. Besides, he might accidentally have kicked a hole in the drum. Mind you! I’m not saying he would have done it on purpose, but he might have done it by accident.

“I don’t see any one,” said the Bold Tin Soldier, and he waved his sword over his head.

“Isn’t he just wonderful!” whispered the Candy Rabbit to the Calico Clown. “I wish I were as brave as he! If any one has stayed behind in Toy Town to try to watch what we do after store hours, I’m sure they’ll be glad enough to run away when they see the sword of the Tin Soldier.”

“Yes, he is a bold chap,” answered the Calico Clown, and he felt the least bit jealous because the Candy Rabbit thought the Tin Soldier chap was so fine. “I always wanted to be a soldier,” went on the Calico Clown, “but when I was small I began playing tricks and making jokes, so—look what I am!” and he held out his two long arms, on the end of each of which was a round, shiny piece of brass. These brasses were called “cymbals,” and they tinkled together with a clanging sound. “No use for me to wish to be a soldier,” sighed the Calico Clown. “My life is a joke!”

“I like you best as you are. You’re real jolly, I think,” chattered a Monkey on a Stick, as he climbed up and then climbed down again. “We must have some fun in this world, as well as being guarded by Tin Soldiers.”

“That is very true,” remarked a Lamb on Wheels, as she rolled over toward the White Rocking Horse. “I love jolly times. That’s why I’m always so glad when night comes and we toys may do as we please.”

“We may, if there is no one to watch us,” said the Sawdust Doll, as she got up on her feet, rather stiffly, for, as I have said, she had been lying on her back all day, and you know how tiresome that is. “But we must be very careful not to start our fun until every one is away,” went on the Sawdust Doll.

“I’ll take a look,” offered the Bold Tin Soldier.

“I’ll come with you,” said the Calico Clown. “If we find that any boys or girls, or their fathers or mothers, have hidden themselves away in our Toy Town, to spy on us at our play, I’ll bang my cymbals together.”

“And I’ll shout and wave my sword,” went on the Tin Soldier.

“Surely that ought to scare them away,” bleated the Lamb on Wheels.

“If it doesn’t, I’ll just gallop toward them,” said the White Rocking Horse. “That will make them run!”

So the Bold Tin Soldier and the Calico Clown climbed down off the toy counter and walked slowly, and a little stiffly, over the floor toward the elevators. The one light shone dimly, and by its rays they could see that no one was in the store—not even the watchman. He was down on the first floor, near the perfumery counter. He loved the smell of perfumery, did that watchman.

“No one is here!” said the Bold Tin Soldier, as he came marching back with the Calico Clown.

“Not a soul to watch us? That’s fine!” shouted the Monkey on a Stick. “Now I’m going to have some fun!” and he began to run up and down so quickly that the Sawdust Doll cried:

“Oh, please, Monkey! Not so fast, if you please! You make me dizzy!”

“All right! I’ll go more slowly,” kindly offered the Monkey. “But when you’ve had to keep still all day, because so many boys and girls are watching you, when they’re not picking you up and punching you to see what you’re made of—I say when you’ve been that way all day, you want to go fast when you get the chance.”

“I suppose so,” agreed the White Rocking Horse. “I feel like kicking my heels, too.”

“Well, just wait a moment, if you please,” put in the Bold Tin Soldier. “I want to march some of my men out into the middle of the floor and have a little parade. After I get them past you, why, then you may kick up your heels as much as you please.”

“All right,” whinnied the White Horse. “March away! I’m glad to do a favor.”

The Bold Tin Soldier nimbly jumped up on the counter, where he had been standing all day in a box with his tin soldier men. He waved his sword over his head until it flashed in the gleam of the one light like a star on a frosty night, and the Sawdust Doll covered her eyes with her hand, because it was so shiny.

“Attention, soldiers!” cried the tin captain.

Every one of the tin soldiers in the box sprang up straight and stiff and held his gun to his shoulder.

“Forward—march!” cried the captain, again waving his sword.

The tin soldiers stepped into line behind him, and, one after another, they followed him as he jumped off the counter to the floor. Past the White Rocking Horse they marched, each one as brave as his captain.

“Now you may kick your heels as high as you please, Mr. White Rocking Horse,” called the captain. “We are safely out of your reach.”

“All right!” came the answer. “Here I go!” And with that the toy horse, which was built to make some boy happy, began rocking to and fro.

“If any one wants a ride on my back, now’s his chance!” called the White Rocking Horse.

“I do!” cried the Sawdust Doll, and with the help of the Calico Clown she got down off the counter and climbed up and sat on the saddle.

And, for a few moments, all that could be heard in Toy Town was the faint sound of the marching feet of the tin soldiers, the rumble of the Rocking Horse and the tinkle of the Calico Clown’s cymbals.

It was close to midnight now—the time when all toys are allowed to do as they please, provided no one sees them. No one must ever look at, or watch, the toys at their play. In fact, no one has ever seen them having fun after dark in the big stores.

And the reason for that is this:

When the toys were given the power of coming to life, of talking, moving about, having fun, and behaving just as they would if they were real folk—when they were given this power there was just one thing they were told, and that was:

“No one must ever see you moving about!”

“Oh, no! Of course not!” said all the toys.

And so, from the very beginning, no one has ever seen the toys at play. Just the very moment the eyes of a boy or a girl, or a daddy or a mother, or even an uncle or an aunt, lights on one of the toys, that toy just becomes as still as anything.

If, by some chance, when you weren’t looking a Sawdust Doll should start to dance with a Calico Clown, and you should turn your eyes toward them, they would stop at once, and you’d never know but what they had been motionless all their lives.

Because of this no one has ever seen the toys at play, and the only reason I am allowed to tell you what they did is because I promised not to look. They told me about it afterward—just how it all happened—and that’s why I may put it in a book. But as for looking myself at the toys as they play, or letting any one else look—never! I wouldn’t dream of it!

“Am I going too fast for you?” politely asked the White Rocking Horse of the Sawdust Doll, as he rode her on his back.

“Oh, not at all,” she answered. “I like it.”

“That’s good,” he replied. “Oh, look at the Monkey, will you?” he called.

“Isn’t he funny?” said the Sawdust Doll. “Do you know, he’ll make some little boy or girl laugh, I’m sure of it!”

“Yes, he’ll be a nice Christmas toy for some one,” answered the Horse.

“But I would like to stay here among my toy friends a little longer,” said the Sawdust Doll.

“Yes, it is nice here,” said the Calico Clown, as he softly banged his cymbals. “Say, let’s have a little party!” he went on. “It is getting close to Christmas now. Some of us are sure to be bought and taken away. Some of us may never see the others again. We ought to celebrate in some way.”

“That’s what I say!” came from the Candy Rabbit. “Of course, I’m not so likely to go until near Easter time. But you never can tell. Let’s have a party, I say,” and the Candy Rabbit wiggled his ears.

“A good idea!” bleated the Lamb on Wheels. “What shall we do?”

“We could play tag!” said the Monkey on a Stick.

“You can beat us all at that,” remarked the Sawdust Doll. “You jump around so I never can tag you.”

“I’ll go slowly this time,” promised the Monkey. “Come on—let’s have a game of tag!”

“Or hide-and-go-seek!” said the Calico Clown. “I know a dandy place to hide,” he whispered to the Candy Rabbit. “There’s a hole in the counter near the Jack-in-the-Box, and he won’t tell where we are.”

“Is there room for me?” asked the Candy Rabbit.

“Plenty,” answered the Calico Clown. “Come on!”

The Sawdust Doll was just getting off the White Rocking Horse to join in the fun when, all at once, the Candy Rabbit cried:

“Oh, some one is coming! Some one is coming! Quiet, everybody! Don’t move!”

And as each and every toy stiffened out, to look as unlifelike as possible, a scratching, squeaking noise was heard all through Toy Town.