The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-01-02

| porcelain and other materials The glass blowing
establishments OF the valleys near Sonneberg were
| first founded by Bohemian emigrants who were
attracted to Tnuringia by the gold washings which
| were carried on some centuries ago in the noun
| tain valleys.
CHILDS PARADISE.
| Sonneberg exports, as l said very different
articles now from what it formerly did. Perhaps
no better idea can be gwen OF the character OF the
Sonneberg industries than by visiting one of the
| great showrOoms OF the place. either that OF
Messrs. Fleschmann or OF otto Cuno Dressed.
These showrooms are something wonderful in
their way, being, in fact, international exposi-
tons. we may say, OF cbildrens toys, in at least
| fifteen thousand varieties. They are paradses
where children would go into ecstasies over the
wonderful and beautiful things exhibited Where
TO begin in my description is difficult. There are
toy men OF all races. zones and ages from the
little Savoyard up to Prince Bismarck and
Kaiser William OF Germany, In wood, por-
celain, paper-mache and terra Gotta. There
are Russians ana Poles, Germans and
French, tourist Englishmen ana Brahmin
priests living far more peaceably together on the
long shelves than they generally do in the big
world. There sits an old grandmamma in her
easy chair, and next to her Moses lies as comfort
ably as possible in the burushes; there are pretty
winged angels alongside OF exaggerated French
ing to rule the waves, and Germania watching
the Rhine, and close by a small bust Of Horace
Greeley, finely executed in terra Gotta. Then
there are figures Of dogs and monkeys, drummer
boys. jumping jacks, clowns. little ladies at minia-
ture pianos, playing Strauss waltz or "God Save
the Queen;" boys on wooden horses peasants
from Thurngia and Bavaria, the Marquis OF Lorne
and his princess wife. jugRlers and mountebanks,
and 'maidens, all lorlorn, q milking with
Ia m nj n N m tariQ nd
all very beautifully executed.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BEAUTIFUL DOLL BABY.
There are q thousand other things that attract
ones attention. Some are exceedingly quaint.
There are long rows OF good old Santa Clauses,
warmly clad in fur and covered with boar frost,
ready to go out at Christmas time with their sacks
filed with toys and dolls and sweets. There are
the managers OF Bethlehem. with little wooden fig.
ures OF wise men and shepherds and sheep and the
infant Jesus in the Manager In dangerous prOX.
unity to the cows. Chicken groups OF the quantest
character-two have just escaped from the shell,
and stare at each other with mutual admiration
and surprise. There are cats that squat, dogs
that bark and horses that whinny, and cows that
give milk, provided it be previously supplied
through hole IN the back; elephants with trunks
that suck up water and spirit it out again in
very natural manner and birds that sit in delight
fully green trees and chirp away until they get
short OF breath In short, there is everything that
o child ever heard OF or could wish for,
O thousand objects, the mere enumeration OF
which would take up two columns Of the HERALD.
There are the many toy musical instruments
which BOYS generally delight TO torment older
people wth-nutes and 1ddles, flies and trumpets,
drums and tiny pianos, and again needle guns,
swords, pistols ana cannon enough to supply the
German army, Landsturm and all. And dolls |
They are there by the thousand; of all sizes and
prices, p,ebeian and noble; some of wood, some of
porcelain, some Of papier-mache some OF wax;
some lying hundred in row; others beautifully
dressed in silks and furs and bonnets, and sleep.
ing quietly In their doll beds or In beautifully
padded drawers; some sleeping with their eyes
closed and some with them open, and some
capable of crying for mamma or papa wnen occa-
sion requires. There was one big doll, l remem.
Der, just as big as ouryear- old girl. aud nearly
as beautiful as some young ladies l know, aud IL
seemed as If it only needed a spa,k OF
life breathed into the body to make 1t
speak. l was shown one doll IN q
beautiful crib, and the manufacturer told me
that when 1t was first finished his wife cried over
it and took 1t and placed 1t In her own bed and
would not give 1t up for some days, so beautiful
and lifel1Ke was It, And now the manufacturer
refuses sell It, because, he says his wife loves It
so much and II he took 1t away he thinks the poor
womau's heart would break And believe me Iam
not exaggerating or 1nventtng doll stories, "at all
at all.''
HOW THE DOLLS ARE BORN.
A visit to o Sonneberg doll mandatory is an
exceedingly pleasant and surprising affair. WIS.,
tied one mandatory where eighty persons were
employed, besides $50 Others who do work at their
own homes. The manager informed me that on
his trade list he had COS sorts Of dolls each
having again six varieties, we come to the fact
Of he oy1q n oil
There are wooden dolls. pot-laced dolls, papier
mache dolls, wax dolls, in the making Of
which are engaged not only the modellers wax
varnishers, &C., but hundreds OF children and
girls 10 make boots, dresses to curl the hair and
other important operations on these fearlully and
wonderfully made creatures. The dolls with
wooden heads and wooden limbs and porcelain
heads are the lowest germs Of the Sonneberg doll.
The heads are imported, but the movable limbs
and bodies are cut carved and put together by
the jewellers Of the mountains, many OF whom lol-
low other occupations. Thus, in Judenbach.
saw whole families, old and young, male and
female, engaged in the interesting occupation
OF making wooden dolls. The smallest chill
dren would have some simple operation to do,
such cutting or saving the wood into the proper
length, an older Child would be able to cut out
| the limbs in the rough, the older members
would do the finer WORK and fix all the
anatomical parts toge Their. When the children are
sent out to guard the cows or the sheep they take
wood with them and simple knife and return
home at night with quite stock Of legs and arms.
The curious PapagenOs OF the Thurngian forest,
the birdcatchers are likewise armed with knife
ana peculiar little piece OF wood affixed in front
OF tnem and carve the limbs or other pieces OF
toys, when they have set their snares and are yet
| waiting for the little ieathered victims.
THE WAX DOLL MANUFACTURE.
| To make q real wax doll or one OF papier -mache
is quite long process First OF all the limbs have
to be made. The legs either OF pot cotton, have
| to be filed out with moss and sawdust, and the
same process is gone through with the body and
arms, the task being entrusted to o numuer OF
young women. The head is more dnicult to make
! First comes the moulding, from o kind Of
whity.brown paste, which when hard is almost