Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-11-26
The Doll OF the Period.

The PdU MdH Gazette asks II 1t Is not
q sign of the times that fashion has set
in for the most sumptuous and elaborate
wax dolls? Little ladies, following the
instinct which made them nurse their
toys long ago, used to be content with o
very simple and candid efigy indeed.
The toilet of the doll then was generally
left to the taste of the owner; and it was
supposed in itself to be sort of liberal
education in the fine art of millinery to
devise garments for the figure which,
from the neck downward, was composed
of honest cotton stuffed with sawdust.
But the doll, like the legitimate drama,
and eome other things, has sadly declined
from primitive simplicity. She has now
become a grand demoiselle with CHG
non, high-heeled, brsss-tipped boots, and
an eye glass. She isNendowed with parts
Of speech. On being squeezed round the
waist she raises her eye. glass in the cor
rect mode and bsrks, the organ of Ian
guage inside her girdle being as yet i'm
perfectly developed. A gentle pressure,
which may be surreptitiously exercised,
in the palm of her hand, causes her to
arch her eyebrows in the most ma
tural way in the world. She hes
not to put up with the make-shlft limbs
peculiar to the species. She is real wax
from head to foot, and is as anatomical as
an ordinary sta,uette The doll artist
does not stop here He has gone further,
and devised handsome young gentlemen
for the young ladies to play with. Perfect
ducks of boys with knickerbockers aud
curly wigs aud red lips, sailors, high
lsnders, and the like, are displayed for
choice, and are desired almost as much
as the female poppets. Then, again, we
have whole babies of full size, and of
most disconcertiDg resemblance to lite,
constructed for the amusement of the
young. Ia one shop may be seen round
dozen of infants quite equal to anything
that Madame Tusssud's connections
could turn out, and infants of plump
quality put forward in a manner horribly
suggestive to an imaginative mind of the
sort of eating wigwam or dining-house
that might exist among caunibal Indians
By means of simple piece OF string
these children can be made to cry and
move their legs and arms, while the APP
propriate bsssnet can also be purchased
on the premises. The Saturday Review
should lock to this An early familiarity
with French mannikins (the male dolls
are, we believe, imported from Paris)
must tend to give an unwholesome i'm
pulse to the craving of the sex for firta-
ton. Is it good for eur children to fa-
miiarizs them with the gsrnishing and
the fixed airs of the fast girlY A
deal of neat satire mig ht be made out OF
these points, but seriously it is pity to
mark the decay of simpletonisnism, even
in the fashion of dole. The notion Of
making them large and elaborate is mon
strous and CHASTITY, there being nothing
on this side of the grave more unpleasant
than the dead. alive cape, stare, and hue
of the lumpish simulacrnms of wax
show. The condolences of child with
dolly must be broken aud spoiled CT m
pletely when the plsythpg either fright
ems or imposes upon the child's fancy.
The mannkin and the Brobdignagian in
fant ought to be abolished from the toy
shops altogether The former is to be
detested not only upon social grounds,
but on the grounds of expense, and
for having to certain extent put
our ancient friend Jack in = the box
out of countenance. What between
the superb dolls of both sexes,
Sismese links, chemical serpents, and
the rest of it, Jacks place knows him no
more, and this is to be regretted. The
element of surprise, the one trick which
Jack had in him, would be of more recre-
ative service to small folks than the
modish msrionettes or the Ingenious
snakes and "sels" which teEd to make
their patrons wiser or foolish before their
time; but we are afraid we plead in vain
for j sck and for the doll OF rags and bran.
Noah's ark itself has fallen into contempt
with most young people. We can re-
member when this ark, with its contents
(including J.phei), was taken for granted
as thing for belief aud enjoyment by
children generally; now there is almost
a tsint of Biblical criticism, or what re-
sembles 1t, born With the rising genera
ton, aud nothing will do for them but
microscopes and dolls that ape human
ity with certain ironicsl truth.