The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-01-15
WHERE DOLLS ARE MADE.

On the second floor, in the rear OF
2374 Third avenue, the only wax
dolls manufactured in America first
smile upon the world. They do
this in somewhat sticky and per-
spring way; but there, too, they
are taught decorum, and sent into
society, things of beauty and joy, If
not forever, at least, for a long time
for little girl cherishes far
warmer love for her doll after her
brother has picked out one of its
eyes, damaged its nose and reduced
it to badness, than she ever feels
for it in its hours Of dazzling
beauty.
There is a general impression that
wax dolls are all imported, and that
they have never been manufactured
in America.QBut the doll made by
Martin & Rippel in Harlem is quite
as beautiful us that manufactured
ipE Saxony-where the business of
wax-don making supports thousands
of families-and far moro service
able. for the beeswax off which the
Harlem dolls are made is so prepared
that it does not crack in the cold of
winter. or melt beneath the heat of
summer.
"Oniil:about two years ago." said
Nh Rippel, ''no wax, dolls were made
in this country. They nearly all
came from Sonneberg. Thuringle, in
Saxony. All the villages around
Sonneberg are similarly employed,
and the children there would not be
very grateful for the present of a
doll a. Christmas. They are like
boy employed in a candy store, and
care little for the article it gives
them so much trouble to make.
Labor there is very cheap, and dolls
are turned out without any great
outlay of capital; but they are not
very skilfully made, and the mater
ial is the most expensive part of the
manufacture. But as money is
scarce, the dolls, for the most part,
are'made of papier mache, which has
nothing of the fine creamy appear
ance of wax dolls. Look at these
two dolls"
PAPIER-MACHE AND WAX.
One was of papier-mache, the
other of wax, and both were made
on the premises. The PAPER
mache doll had the red cheeks of
country girl, but had evidently been
waxed. The wax doll had taken the
prize at the American Institute
Fair, and appeared to be proud of it.
Her hair was straw color, but the
shade could readily be changed, like
the tresses on the human head, to
suit the fashion. Her eyes were a
tender hazel, her nose slightly re-
trousse, her chin charmingly dim.
pied, and the color on her face en-
chanting. She was made of pure
wax, but dolls that have to undergo
the ordeal of being loved by little
girls are lined by papier-mache, not
so much for their own comfort or to
protect them against their enemies
as to guard against the endearments
of their friends. The papier-mache
doll looked like the servant Of the
other doll. And yet, like a servant
who had borrowed. her mistress
habiliments while the family were
in the country, she had something
of the appearance of her superior.
In point of fact. she was of wax,
waxy. She had been clipped" in
wax and had assumed the expression
that all papIer-mache dolls have of
staring eyes and apple cheeks.
"IntO dolls, Of course" said Mr..
eve put our choicest work,
and, we believe wisely. The
doll is the most popular toy that
a little girl can have, and it
cannot be made too pretty. A
boys fondness for a dollusually
partakes of a scientific nat
tura. He desires to see how it is
made, and his curiosity, though a
thing to be admired in itself, is apt
to injure the doll. The art of man
dolls had i S origin in
the United States. About thirty
years ago German named Sitter
visited this country, and a perfect
ioa to which many Americans had
arrived in making wax flowers
struck him. 1t occurred
to him that wax dolls could be
made Of the same material. He
made some experiments here, but
labor was too expensive, and the art
Of modelling was very backward. |
Then, with the experience he had
gained, he went TO Saxony and
started the first wax-doll manufac-
tory the world had seen. Labor |
there was very cheap, and in a few
years his heads were to be fonnd in |
the toy shops in all parts of the |
world, and to-day wax-headed dolls |
only are in demand among those i
who have money to pay for them;
for the material is, ard always will |
be, somewhat expensive"
PURE BEEsWAX.
"Taste that wax" said Mr.. Rippel,
handing the reporter a small cake
IF white material. 1t looked like
soap, and the reporter, while
acknowledging its beauty, declined
1t first to test it with his palate.
But Mr.. Ripple tsok a generous
bite from one corner, anC seemed
% enjoy it; so the reporter INDUCED
n a little, and found it almost
,asteless, but not disagreeable.
at is pure beeswax, almost So"