American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-02-20
NO. s..

there is plaster to hold them in place
and support the cheeks; cork or
sponge to keep the lead from hitting her
chin; pieces of wood to prevent her
head from being easily crushed, and va
| rious ARRANGEMENTS by means of which
able to endure the hard knocks she may
expect in the rough life before her.
When everything is in, the cut off slice
| of her head is glued on again, and Miss
| ROsabel has received all the furnishing
for the inside of her head that she will
ever have. If your poor doll ever is so
unfortunate as to break her head, you
can look in and see all this machinery,
| if you like.
| Now the inside is finished, the next
thing is to put on her lovely complexion
| First must be removed any roughness;
such as bits of glue at the seams of her
head.
Women now go to work on Miss
Rosabels head one filing the rough
ness off, and another giving it coat of
| ruddy, flesh colored paint from the top
of the head to the ends of the shoulders
Dolls who have hair made of the same
material as their heads, like bisque and
china dolls. have the hair vanished
black, but Rosabel has real hair, SO she
is colored alike all over. A frightful-
looking object she is, too, with color
enough for a boiled lobster.
| When she has received her color, and
| got dry, she proceeds to the next Oper-
ator, who is the waxer.
1 should have told you before that her
hands and feet were made in the same
way as her head, nodded, and painted
and waxed.
| The bodies of cloth or leather are
made by families outside of the factory,
| and brought in all ready for the heads.
Can your dolly cry? Rosabel can, and
therefore her body Is stuffed with hay
because sawdust, the usual stuffing,
would get into her crying machine, and
make her dumb forever after. To give
| her a voice, you must know, she has a
sort of bellows-like arrangement, such
as you have seen attached to a toy cat,
which when pressed would new.
These parts are all made and put
together outside of the factory, and the
finished bodies brought in. And now
| comes the next process, which is color
ing her face. You thought she had color
enough. Well, she has her flesh tint, but
her lips are white and she has no eye
brows, nor lashes, and no brighter cheeks
than firebrands, which will never do.
She must go to the painting-room.
Into kettle of boiling clear white
beeswax Miss Dolly is dipped, and then
is held up to drain. If she had been in
| tended for cheap doll she would have
| received but one dip, but being destined
to belong to the aristocracy of the doll
world she receives several dips, each one
giving her thin coat of wax and toning
| down her flaming complexion into del
| icate pink The reason she was painted
so red, you know, is that she may have
the proper tint when the wax is on.
In this room is long table with sew
| eral workmen, each of whom does only
one thing. The first one paints
Miss Dolly's lips, and sets her down
on the other side of him. The next enc
takes her up and puts on her eyebrows.
The third colors her cheeks. The fourth
pencils her eyelashes, and so she goes on
down the table, growing prettier at
every step.
| But she has yet no hair. Now Rosa
bel has regular wig, made of real hair
| on a foundation of lace, and glued on,
| but many of the dolls in the factory
have locks made of fine wool, which
look like real hair. This wool is braided
up tight, and boiled to make it stay
wavy. 1t is curled over glass trbe,
and glued to the head curl by curl,
/ whether long or short If it is yellow, it
is the natural color of the wool; if any
other color, it has been dyed.
Sometimes the hair is deliberately braid
ed, and done up in style. dare say you
| have seen it put around in droll German
coil. and held by tiny hair-pins. Gen
orally, however, it is preferred IN curls
or loose waves.
Now the head is done and how many
people do you suppose have had a hand
| in bringing it from the paper pulp to
| the present state? You can't tell? Not
| less than thirty eight, each one of whom
never does but one thing, and thus be-
| comee very Skillful
But though the head is finished, Miss
Rosabel is not yet out of the factory.
| She must have her head, as well as her
| hands and feet, glued fast to her body !;
and then-last but by no means least
she must have wardrobe. Cheap dolls
have merely one garment, loosely
| stitched together by machine at the
rate of about two cents dozen. But
| our dolly was sent to a regular dolls
dressmaker, and clothed from head to
foot in very pretty suit. OF course it
is not in style now, for it was made
several months ago, you must know.
Miss Rosabel is then taken to ware
| house where she is surrounded by hun
dreds and thousands of fellow-dolls,
many of them made in the same mold
with herself, and as like her as twin
| sisters could be.
have read of one of those warehouses,
where twelve rooms were Hlleu WIN uoiis
| of all sizes, from one inch long to two
feet high. -One room was entirely filled
| with wooden ointed dolls, an inch and
a half long, piled in loose heap from
| floor to ceiling, and another room con
tanned nothing but dolls heads. There
were millions of dolls in that one house
| You wish you could go there? 1t
would be interesting to you. 1t looks
very droll to see a cart going through the
streets filled with dolls legs, for in
stance, each one with clean white stock
| ing and bright slipper painted on
One wholesale house in that town buys
| 80, 900 of the inch and a-halt babies every
| week the year round. For my part, 1
should think few years of such work
would nearly pave our streets with wood
| en- dolls A smart worker can make
| twenty dozen of this size in day.
Wouldn't it be funny to live where al
most the only business carried on is toy
making? Where grown-up men and
| women spend their whole lives in invent
| ing, improving and making dolls that
| talk, and turn their heads, and shut their
ewes. and creep, and walk, besides en-
gines that run, and horses that draw a
| load, and steamboats, that goa million
of dollars worth in year, and all to
amuse the great army of little folks in
| the worldy
| The children who live in that fair
| land, however, care very little Tor toys ;
| the poor little creatures are all workers
When very young they begin to learn to
make some one toy or part of II toy, and
| they spend their whole lives at it. The
| paw is small and every one of the family
| ST helm