Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-23


GERMAN DOLLS AND HOW THEY ARE MADE
MORTALITY IN THE DOLL CREATION, Erc.
The home into which don viii not be smue.
gled by some means by tomorrow night 10 going
t. lose one Of the keenest enjoyments OF Christ
mas. We are all familiar with the picture Of
the little tot, who opens Its eyes, 10 discover %
its bedfellow on Christmas morning a new doll.
Well, the tableaux is one which increases In In
terest the more frequently we see It. You can
not get beyond the fact, that the doll
question to-day is the leading issue before
the country. II viii not down. You
cannot get rid Of these ghosts OF
Juvenile memories, no matter how hard you
try. They will not be ignored. for where can
you turn In the stores without their shiny eva
follow yQp. They stand and sit and hang i'm the !
most uncomfortable positions In the shop win.
dows They are grouped In family circles,
graded In sizes like ten-pins solid ranks and
nles one Is holding another. the lady doll 10
bossing her maid while the latter minds the
baby dolls, In fact there seems no condition in
life OF which they cannot present good counter
feits- Where did they all come from and where
are they gong2
THE BABY-DoLL KINGDOM.
Statistics are dull things when APPLIED 10 ON,
luKuries; but with all the loneliness and ug,i-
ness Of the baby -dol Kingdom thrusting them.
selves under our very Noses. figures cannot 30
out Of place There are said to he about one
thousand sorts of dolls, each sort embracing six
varieties. so we come to the fact of the existence
OF over six thousand varieties OF dolls. About
treble that ought to supply the Washington
Children. Our stores have been SUPPLYING
this demand and furnishing baby dolS
from one cent to one hundred dollars, and
probably higher. this week. until their salae
OF dolls, II they were put In a line, would make
respectable standing army. There are wooden
dolls. and short Is his or her memory who does
not remember the double-jointed beauties Of
their childhoods days, whose little round heads
had smear of black paint for hair, two blue
specks Tor eyes. an uncertain line or two for
nose and mouth. and Q fearful waste OF car.
mine on the cheeks. Excuse these tears but
the recollections OF those terrible images OF
humankind, contrasted with the shapely doll Of
to-day. are narrowing. and are enough to make
anybody sorry that the doctrine Of the bsauti.
ful was not worked up . decade or two ago.
But to get back to the list. There are wooden
dolls, porcelain dolls, papier-mache dolls pot
faced dolls, worsted dolls. rubber dolls and wax
dolls Some OF them will talk some walk,
Others sing, many dance, most CRY and shut
tnelr eyes and open them again, all ut the sweet
will Of their owners.
THE DUTCH DOLLS
Away of I'm Germany, on the borders of tho
Thurngian forests, lies the pretty little town Of
Sonneburg, where nearly all the Dutch dolls are
made. Everybody there engages In this indus
try. The wooden dolls. the lowest germ Of the
Dutch make, are carved and put together by the
Simple dwellers Of the mountains. Whole fam
HES are employed at it the younger children
saving the wood into proper lengths, an older
child carving the limbs in the rough, while the
older members do the finer work and put the
body together. When the children are sent out
to guard the cows or the sheep, they take bits
OF wood and knives with them and return Ct
night with quite stock of arms and legs. To
make real wax doll. or one of paper mache A
quite long and complicated process. First q
all the limbs are made. All the sections Of the
body are distributed among lot Of Young wo-
men, who I'LL them with sawdust moss, under
covering OF muslin or kid.
ONE OF THE NEW IDEAS
this year, for the cheaper line of dolls, was to
cover the body with a deep flesh tinted cotton.
The head is more difficult to make The mold
ing is made from whitley brown paste, which
when hardened is almost indestructible These
pasteboard foundations are then passed through
some severe ordeals. The papier mache heads
are dipped into boiling wax, which give them
the appearance of real wax. But the genuine
ton. The boiling wax is poured into a plaster
mold; it adheres to tue sides al it becomes cold,
and when the outer cover liz removed there 10
beautiful wax shell left. The head
is cast complete, and only a small opening
left on top 10y which lining OF soft paste is in
serted. This soon hardens and gives both strength
and durability. Alter this process the wax 10
permitted to melt to q very slight degree
whereupOn 1t ia busted with powder made OF
potato meal and aabaster to give 1t delicate
nesh tint Then the head is provided with eyes,
which must be exactly alike or the doll win
squint. Another artist puts on the eyebrowa
another inserts the teeth, in fine dolls one by
one, and then the shayen head is given TO the
hairdresser. who gets up the blonde tresses,
after the leading fashions OF the day. II is com.
fOrting to know that you can get a real nice
specimen OF this elaborate hRndiwork about a.
big as live twO-year-old, with q complete
trousseau, for Sl50. For q carriage and pair or
well furnished house. suitable for the resi-
dence OF such real beauty, you can spend all
the way up to $500.
real handsome doll. prettily dressed In Q
satin suit but with no changes of costume NAV
be purchased for from So to $40, according to
size. The tiny French dolls, whose limbs move
In the most graceful fashion. and are tricked out
in the latest Partisan finery, with bonnets um-
brelas and high-heeled boots are expensive.
some of the smallest selling for % and So. Yol
can buy bOuncer OF Q baby-an infant with
movable hands, Ieet and head, and dressed up
lengths come cheaper. The lady dolls are the
favorites though, and you can buy one nearly
two feet long for 81. All the makeup of these
dolls is in the heads; most Of the bodies will
not bend. and they are quickly worn out. The
China doll head, with its rosy cheeks and row az
glistening black curls. is not such favorte now
as it used to be with the little folks as there il
lot more satisfaction obtained In jsmmng around
a wax doll. Little ones who have lots Of friends
usually own two or three dolls and among them
a French one. Mothers of q careful turn Of
mind let them play with the foreigners about
twice year; so the duration Of these doll livss
cannot be definitely traced.
DOLL MORTALITY.
II is not such hard matter to keep track Of
their more humble sisters. All the thousands
of them that disappear about q month after
Christmas would make an appalling list Of the
missing. All the dear Bessies and susies that
have had such Q warmth Of affection wasted
over them are to be found with broken limbs,
noses and gaping wounds, from 4
which the CORY saw-dust trckles as its onlv EVIL
dences, and they find last resting place in the !.
back alley. But if doll lasted too long, the
busy fingers of Santa Claus workmen up In the
ala,rrr ho,, A