Uncle Tom's Cabin
When she first enters the story, she says that she does not know who made her: "I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." In the early-to-mid 1900s, some doll companies made dolls that looked like Topsy. The expression "growed like Topsy" (later "grew like Topsy") began to be used in the English language. At first it meant to describe growing without planning it. Later, it simply meant growing a lot.