A Little Doctor

Little Marie had a pressing desire to become a doctor, and since she was no more than five years old, she treated her dolls and her playmates' dolls whenever need arose.

It happened once that she was summoned urgently to examine one of the neighbors' dolls, so she ran off in haste and left the house door open.

"Come back, Marie, and shut the door," her mother told her; but Marie did not come back, because the patient was in danger!...

"Come back at once, Marie; obey your mother and shut the door!" her father commanded her this time. Marie came back reluctantly, muttering something, as though she had been kept from an important errand!...

After she returned to the house her mother asked her: "And how is your patient now?" "She died," said the little doctor, still angry. "She died while I was coming back to shut this door!!"