We entered a handsome dining room filled with mahogany furniture. Mekitty’s mama and papa were sitting at the table along with two matronly ladies. At the head of the table was Mekitty’s papa. Her great-aunt Georgina Hogarth, known as “Aunt Georgy,” was sitting across from Mekitty’s mama. Next to Georgina was Venerables’ eldest daughter, Mary Angela, nicknamed “Mamie.” Mekitty’s given name was also Mary Angela, but Venerables liked to give everyone nicknames. Here is how Mekitty got hers:
In the summer of 1864, when Mekitty was just 2 1/2 years old, her parents brought her to visit Gad’s Hill Place. At that time, Mamie had a beautiful white cat named Williamina. When Mekitty saw the cat, she squealed with glee and jumped up and down with excitement. “Me! Kitty!” she said and held her arms wide. The cat just stared at her, then sauntered over and allowed the toddler to pet her. “Me kitty,” she said again, and from that day on, the name “Mekitty” stuck.
Mekitty handed me to her mother. Bessie Dickens was a quiet woman with pleasant features and the most beautiful honey-colored eyes. Her gloved hand was soft and smooth. She glanced at me briefly and then handed me back to Mekitty. “It’s very nice, dear.” she said.
“She’s not an IT, she’s a SHE!” Mekitty objected. “Papa, you can see that, can’t you?”
Mekitty’s papa examined me closely. His clear blue eyes reminded me so much of Venerables. “Yes,” He agreed. “Kitty is a personality to be reckoned with, by all accounts. You will have your hands full with this one,” he said as he winked at me. I liked him immediately. He took after his father and seemed to be, in his heart of hearts, a little boy who had never grown up.
“Now why don’t you take her upstairs and show her to your sisters?” he suggested. “They are all taking tea in the nursery.”
Mekitty made a face. “Do I have to? I don’t want to have tea with the babies.” Although she was only two years older than her eldest sister, Ethel, Mekitty always felt much more grown up.
“Well,” Aunt Georgy suggested, “Since it is your birthday, I suppose you may have tea with the grown-ups today.” She set out another teacup and a plate for her. Mekitty beamed and placed me upon the linen tablecloth where I had an excellent view of the room.
It was apparent that Venerables was a fan of Spanish mahogany, because in addition to the large dining table, the room contained a set of ten mahogany chairs upholstered in red Moroccan leather. Some of these were arranged along the walls, where extra shelves were attached above the wainscoting to add more dining space. Beautiful portraits in heavy, gilt frames covered the walls, and a three-paneled screen in the corner had inserts of the same red leather as the chairs. Attached to the ceiling was a gas-powered light fixture. A large mirror above the mahogany sideboard reflected the light from the chandelier back into the room, which helped to brighten up the somber effect of the dark furniture.
We had a lovely tea until it was time for Mekitty to leave and join the other children in the nursery. Mekitty carried me up two flights of stairs. We entered a room in the attic with two iron bedsteads, painted white, and a crib. A multi-colored plaited rug covered the gleaming hardwood floor, and cheerful red gingham curtains were pulled back from the dormer window. The rose-patterned wallpaper was a bit faded, but everything in the room was extremely neat and tidy. Everything, that is, except for the children themselves.
Mekitty was the eldest of five. Her four-year-old sister Ethel came next, then three-year-old Charlie, the only boy. He was followed by the babies, Sydney, age two, and Gertrude, who was only seven months old.
When Mekitty entered, Charlie was chasing Ethel around the room with a toy fishing rod. “You can’t catch me!” Ethel taunted as she managed to stay just out of reach of the hook, while Sydney looked on, wide-eyed, from her crib. Nurse Matilda was absent, as she was preparing a bottle for little Gertrude in the sitting room next door.
“Come see my birthday present!” Mekitty said. Everyone stopped and looked at her. Ethel and Charlie crowded around, and little Sydney tried unsuccessfully to climb out of the crib. “This is Kitty,” Mekitty continued. “Venerables gave her to me. She is carved from oak to look like me, and Aunt Georgy made her clothes.”
Charlie quickly became bored when he saw that I was a doll, but Ethel seemed fascinated. “Can I hold her?” Ethel asked.
“I suppose so,” Mekitty answered. “But be careful.” She placed me reluctantly into Ethel’s eager hands. Ethel stroked my painted wooden hair and stared at me. She was a curious child with rather a large nose, a small chin and feathery brown hair. When Mekitty had first held me, I had sensed her love immediately, but with Ethel it was different. I had a feeling that she wanted me, not because she admired me, but mostly because she felt jealous of Mekitty.
At that point, Nurse Matilda entered the room, holding baby Gertrude. Although Matilda was her given name, everyone called her Tilly. She was about the same age as Mekitty’s mother, but they looked nothing alike. While Bessie Dickens was fair-haired and delicate, Tilly was short and sturdy. A fringe of black curls escaped her cap, and Tilly’s constantly furrowed brow drew attention to her kind grey eyes. “What have you got there, Miss Ethel?” she asked.
“Her name is Kitty,” Mekitty answered. “She’s my birthday present from Venerables. I just told Ethel she could hold her.”
“Well, isn’t that nice?” Tilly replied. I could tell she wasn’t the least bit interested in me. “Now, you children play quietly while I put Miss Gertrude down for her nap. She settled Gertrude in the crib next to Sydney. “You, too Sydney. If you close your eyes and rest, I will give you a biscuit.” Sydney nodded as Tilly handed her the biscuit.
Tilly went to the window and opened it wide. “Nothing like fresh, country air,” she said. “Not like that filthy soot-filled fog in London.” She turned away from the window and went to the bureau to fold and put away the children’s clothing from the laundry basket.
“Let’s show Kitty around the nursery,” Mekitty said to Ethel, who was still holding me. Charlie had gotten a toy train engine and coal tender out of the toy chest and was pulling it around the room. Inside the chest, I saw a jumble of blocks, a jump rope, a hobby horse, and a spinning top. On a small table in the center of the room was a simply carved Noah’s Ark with pairs of wooden animals. “We play with that on Sundays,” Mekitty explained. Next to the Ark was a paper model of a theatre with tiny paper actors on the stage. “That was papa’s favorite toy when he was a boy.” Then Mekitty pointed to a doll, about twice my size, standing way up high on a shelf. “That’s Miss Willow,” she told me. “She was Aunt Mamie’s doll when she was little. We aren’t allowed to play with her.”
Mekitty turned to Ethel. “Now, it’s my turn to play with Kitty. Give her to me,” she said as she tried to take me away from Ethel.
Ethel held tight to me and pulled. “Let go! You’ll break her!” Mekitty warned.
“No! You let go,” Ethel replied.
Mekitty noticed that the sleeve of my coat was starting to rip. She quickly let go of me. Ethel lost her balance, and I slipped from her hand and flew through the air straight toward the open window.
I soared in a graceful arc. With a feeling of exhilaration, I passed through the window. But my momentum did not carry me far. I bounced off the window sill and landed on the gray slate roof. In vain, I tried to grasp the slippery tiles, but I continued to fall until I hit a gutter at the edge of the roof. I lay there face up and could see Ethel and Mekitty peering over the windowsill.
“Ethel, I am going to try to lower you down so you can reach her,” Mekitty suggested. She started to grasp Ethel by the waist, but Tilly interrupted her.
“You will do no such thing, Miss! Come away from that window.”
Mekitty complied reluctantly as a new face appeared from above. “Well, Miss Kitty,” Tilly commented, “You are in a fix. But I think I can help you.” A minute later she reappeared, holding a broom. “If I can hook this under her skirt, I might be able to save her,” she said to the girls. She stuck the broomstick out of the window and tried to reach me. She poked me a little too hard. I spun around so I was no longer facing the window. Now I could see a cloudless sky, a beautiful meadow and farmland with rolling green hills and woods in the distance. I felt like I was on the edge of the world.
“Careful! She’ll fall.” Mekitty said. “We need a hook to catch her. Let’s try Charlie’s fishing rod!” She picked it up off the floor and handed it to Tilly. “Can you reach her with this?” Mekitty asked.
“I will try it, Miss.” Tilly spun the reel and lowered the line towards me. I heard the metal hook as it scraped along the slate. It inched towards me. The hook caught in the fabric of my skirt, and I felt a jerk as the line went taut. Tilly reeled me in slowly, and I started to move back up towards the window.
“You got her! It’s working!” Mekitty cried happily.
Things may have ended very differently if my foot had not caught on a loose tile. Tilly pulled harder to try and free me. I felt another sudden jerk, and the hook tore away. I turned a somersault in the air. In that moment, time seemed to stand still. I was soaring above the roof, and thought I would never come down to earth. But it happened all too soon. I missed the edge this time and catapulted all the way down to the first floor, where I landed in the springy branches of a lilac bush. I hung there, face down, only a foot above the ground.
Then I heard a strange, panting sound. I stared directly into the eyes of a fierce black beast. His nose was as big as my head. He sniffed me and then clamped me in his sharp, white teeth. Drool started to soak into my fine clothing. But fortunately, my sturdy oak body held up well to the forces of his jaws. He shook his head from side to side, then threw me violently into the air. It is a good thing that I am not prone to motion sickness, for this certainly would have unsettled my stomach. I looked with alarm at the ground coming towards me rapidly and thought I would hit hard, but instead, the animal’s jaws opened wide again and caught me. Apparently, I was to be the beast’s plaything. He repeated the tossing and catching a few times and then became bored. He carried me a few feet away, where there was a bare patch of dirt in the flowerbed. Then, he dropped me onto the ground and started to cover me with dirt. I began to panic. I would be buried, and Mekitty would never know what happened to me. The thought of being separated from her forever gave me a sharp pain in my chest. I don’t know if dolls have hearts the way people do, but I felt pain nonetheless.
“Bumble, come here!” a voice ordered. I could not see who was speaking, but I recognized him immediately. It was Venerables! He had come outside to search for me. He must have seen my feet sticking up, for he reached down and pulled me out of the ground. “Bad dog!” he said.
I was so relieved to be held by Venerables again. Mekitty and Ethel were standing next to him, looking eagerly at me. Next to them was the beast, a large black Newfoundland dog, apparently named Bumble.
“Is she alright, Wenables?” Ethel asked.
“Yes, she seems fine, although her clothing is ruined. Next time, maybe you should play with her without fighting,” he advised. He brushed off as much dirt as he could and then handed me to Mekitty.
The two girls hung their heads in shame, and we all headed back inside the house. But behind his back, I could see the girls glare at each other, and I had a feeling that this would not be the last time they would fight over me.
I spent that night tucked under Mekitty’s pillow. She shared a bed with Ethel, and she whispered to me after Ethel was asleep.
“Kitty, I hope you shall be more careful in the future. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
I needed to be more careful? Was it my fault that I flew out the window? At that point, I realized that a doll’s fate is tied to her owner’s whims. And when I became too fragile for play, I would spend the rest of my life alone upon a shelf, like Miss Willow. It was not a reassuring thought.
Text copyright © 2021-2024 by Wendi Dunn. All Rights Reserved.