242 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
acceptance of a child by adoption, to fill the 
vacant heart, — how real and formidable is all 
this rehearsal of the tragedies of maturer 
years! I knew an instance in which the last 
impulse of ebbing life was such a gush of im- 
aginary motherhood. A dear friend of mine, 
whose sweet charities prolong into a third gen- 
eration the unbounded benevolence of old Isaac 
Hopper, used to go at Christmas-time with dolls 
and other gifts to the poor children on Randall's 
Island. Passing the bed of a little girl whom 
the physician pronounced to be unconscious 
and dying, the kind visitor insisted on putting 
a doll into her arms. Instantly the eyes of the 
little invalid opened, and she pressed the gift 
eagerly to her heart, murmuring over it and ca- 
ressing it. The matron afterwards wrote that 
the child died within two hours, wearing a 
happy face, and still clinging to her new-found 
treasure. 
And beginning with this transfer of all hu- 
man associations to a doll, the child’s life inter- 
fuses itself readily among all the affairs of the 
elders. In its presence, formality vanishes ; the 
most oppressive ceremonial is a little relieved 
when children enter. Their influence is per- 
vasive and irresistible, like that of water, which 
adapts itself to any landscape, — always takes 
its place, welcome or unwelcome, — keeps its 
