We made the process so gradual, indeed, that I do not
feel myself all gone yet from the familiar work-room, and for aught I can
say, I still write there; and as to the guest-chamber, it is so densely
peopled by those it has lodged that it will never quite be emptied of
them. Friends also are yet in the habit of calling in the parlor, and
talking with us; and will the children never come off the stairs? Does
life, our high exemplar, leave so much behind as we did? Is this what
fills the world with ghosts?
In the getting ready to go, nothing hurt half so much as the sight of the
little girl packing her doll's things for removal. The trousseaux of all
those elegant creatures, the wooden, the waxen, the biscuit, the india-
rubber, were carefully assorted, and arranged in various small drawers and
boxes; their house was thoughtfully put in order and locked for
transportation; their innumerable broken sets of dishes were packed in
paper and set out upon the floor, a heart-breaking little basketful.
Nothing real in this world is so affecting as some image of reality, and
this travesty of our own flitting was almost intolerable.
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