And you've kept her here when she ought to have been in bed these hours, to bear the first burst of my displeasure---- I declare it's too bad! I declare it's too bad! It's no use! It doesn't matter I do--it's always the same! It's taken for granted that I will conduct myself like a beast. Who can wonder, after that, if I do? Here I find them, pale as sheets, the five of them shaking in their boots, because a forlorn little child has broken a miserable doll. And is it supposed I shall do about it? Didn't I dress the hundred of them for children, and little poor children, too? And I must have known they would get broken, of course. did I dress them? did I spend months dressing them for? Solely for, they think,--not for any charity, any kindness, any love of children, or anything in the but to make an effect on an occasion--to make myself a merit with the parson, perhaps! Oh, it is too bad! One would imagine I never said a decent thing or did a kind act to anyone. And, Heaven knows it's not for lack of trying to change. But no one sees the difference! I am treated like a vixen and a terror. And the people about me hate and fear and deceive me! A proof of it to-night. Oh, the! Oh, I wasn't for this! I wasn't meant for it! When I think of last Sunday's sermon and how straight to my heart it went. Oh, I am a fool to cry! Come here to me, dear child. What is your name? What? A little louder! What did you say? Tibbie! Oh, what a nice, funny name! didn't think I was going to scold you, did you, dear? Of not! It was an accident; I understand all about it. I used to break my dolls' heads frequently, I remember very well. Let us see, dear, now, what we can do to make us both feel happier. I dressed all those dolls for little children I am not acquainted with at all. Which of them would you like the very best? Which should you like for your very own?. The bride, Tibbie, the bride!

Mrs D Monologue from Christmas Candles: Plays for Boys and Girls

Rehearse Mrs D's monologue