As I was coming down the street,

I saw the saddest sight;

Sitting before a candy store,

A doll all dressed in white!

A Paris hat was on her head;

Her eyes were china blue;

And looking down below her gown

I saw her pink kid shoe.

Her veil, thrown back, showed me that her

Expression was refined;

Her carriage-top was folded down;

Her sash was tied behind:

Beside her sat a shaggy dog;

And, as I went too near,

His growl, though not so very loud,

Was terrible to hear!

Just then the shop door opened wide,

And out two children came:

The last one several bundles bore,

The first one just the same;

And some they put behind the doll,

And some before her lay,

And taking now the horse’s place,

They turn to go away.

We who are good can’t understand

Such very wicked ways;

There must have been at least a pound

Of candy in the chaise!

The money she so idly spends

She might so wisely use!

Buy some poor doll a Sunday hat,

Or week-day pair of shoes.

To outgrown and old-fashioned dolls

She might be such a friend!

To heathen dolls in savage lands

Improving books might lend.

’Tis sad to think how one so small

Can be so great in sin:

I fear my tears will form a lake

And I shall fall therein!