Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-12-20
HOW DOLLS ARE MADE.
rhe Drudgery Of the Business-Pafts'
Wax DoIls-China Dolls.

Wax Dolls-China Dolls.
lHarpers Bazar.l
Nine-tenths of all the dolls produced
are manufactured in the province Of
Thuringia in Germany. This comprises
but thirty five square miles, and belongs
to the duke OF Saxe-N oburg. The central
market of receipt is Sonneberg, city of
some IL, 900 inhabitants. The population
of Thuringia is about $4,000. or 800
people to the SO uare mile. Every one
here is doll laborer, engag d
in making a wig, an eye, a leg,
an arm, dress, some part Of doll fur
niture, or at work in the ems and clay,
or elsewhere. The children wor, until
they are sent to school, un Ter compul
sion, where they remain to the age of
IA. Then the girls return to their work
for life, and the boys go to the army
for period of years, after which they
return for lie, unless called out by
war. These p,etched people have been
trained to this drudgery SO long that it
them. They ire fitted for no other
work, and, if they were, ha e no money
by which to get away. If they went
away, there are few doll manu-
factories elsewhere. So it happens
that whole families, from the
grandsire to gran child labor from
generation to generation, and from
morning to night. Zach family has IL
little patch of land, where few potatoes
are cultivated. If a mishap befalls the
potatoes it brings misery and woe to
item.
If these families have bacon and
potatoes on g a week during the year
they regard it as season of prosperity
Yet in spite of this poverty they are
seldom without their beer. They can
go without food and clothes, but never
without beer. livery day Peep may b.
seen entering Sonneberg with large
baskets upon their heads bearing the
product of Sc eral days or perhaps
a weeks industry. For this the, recei e
81, or so cents more, which is greed y
but scantily divided for absolute ne. es-
sites.
The manufacturers of Paris produce
the Lnest wax dolls 1t requires almost
tonsun mate skill to make these .oys.
!. aeh workman has models at home, anG
buys materials for manufacture. 1hc
skeleton is constructed out of lime and
plaster of Paris, and the eyes, nose,
mouth AMI ears cut with knife. The
figure being ready is dipped in hot Wa,
and drie,i. 1t then goes to the painte5
for features, then to the hair dresser for
a wig, and final y to the work girls tc
be dressed. The money va.ue of the
do depends upon it, coating of wax
the thin y-coated ones usually crack i'll
cold weather. The wax formerly was
producel through the agency of the bee
but substitute is Leginn ngto be foun
in o1ocerite, or wax made from the res
idue of petroleum.
China dolls are more exclusively the
product of the factory. After being
modelled by land, they are baked in
great oven for week. During tn
time the utmost care and watchtulncg,
are required. The tenders are never ps.-
mitted to sleep. A draught of air will
reduce disastrous results. A single
oven contains 5000 dolls, and thirty
ovens are often full at once in one fac
tory. At the end of the week tie coils
came out, in all conditions. About one
in five is perfect. After baking, TIE
dolls are painted and gla ed Tie i'm
perfect ones are separated by themselves
and sold to fairs and cheap John
concerns, which dispose of them to leo
pie who infest sucl places One Ger.
man factory has been running about 13,
years, and has produced 1000, 900, 00G
dolls. Some of the manufacturers are
enormously rich.
'cha doll, for,,, :,
lnanlmate women, since the young ladies
who play with dolls prefer young lad
dolls. 1t is difficult to comprehend that
they require every article in use by tbs
human being except food and drink.
The st les of doll outfits change vita
the fashions in dolls. The ''chignon an
waterfall the high back hair and the
Langtry bang, with others OF their kin i.
passed away successfully within few
years. All stylish dolls to-day hav,
hair a la Rembrandt. Their furn
fure, dresses and o her article
OF wear and tear are patterned after tn.
fashions of the animate world. IL.
dolls themselves have undergone mar
velous evolution. They can walk. knee
down, sit down, stand up or be place
in any attitude. Not satisfied wit.
this, the inventor has provide,
them with interior apparatus to play
musical airs. They squat and laugd
artlficlally. They automatically say
papa and mamma" In word. the
modern doll has BEEN favored by inyen-
ton, as plants animals are by Sc ection
and threatens to talk to us automatic
ally, and become human without hu
manity, and living without life.