New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-08
rs THE DOLL DOOMED?
TIE FRIVOLOUS AND THE SERIOUS LITTLE
GIRL.

Tho extract from Miss Frances F.. Wizards article
Concerning the love of dress which girls are suppose
m loarn from their wIechcd, heathcnsh' dolls mas
called forth unusually large number OF repieo o
more or less emphatic against the extreme view taaen
by Miss Willard but not few ADMIT at ieas' , oo
partial Justice of her structures, while ono or tWo Ion
nhesItatlngly In her condemnation OF what mas hihei
to been considered the natural coPaoH U1 from
every country ana sao We to us OF
tho various views held on tho subject "a -
A reader I'm NOrthboro, Mass, Fortunes her Owl
opinion by quotation from Colonel T. W, Hggnson,
THAT foremost friend Of woman and therefore Vi
IL is a very instructive fact says Mr. Hggnson,
"that two OF the best mothers know-and mothers,
It must be added On ne largest ibc Of dolls
arranged as tho collcctivc playroom Of six children
under ten@thcro being also three older offspring who
have graduated from THIS t pp PLAY r00 ana are III
This room Is described model nursery, and the
happy mother who presided over IT had acquired her
principal training IN her GTn pay d %e with With
dolls was on tho very largest scale. She had seldom
less than twenty, each with Its own wardrobe, orna,
twenty dolls undressed and put to bed before
their mistress went, and all their clothes were neatly
folded and put away separately. During tho day,
each o had its own no SaS c ana
Tho lady / describe was, after an interval OF some
ten years, reassgned to The duty that had absorbed
on the other hand, there fewer OF them-only
ninc-and they were and are even more Interesting
as | testify, than the dolls" ,
r. Lillian A. Germantown. Penn. writes Indignantly
that every feeling Of love and tenderness In her rose
up In revolt on reading the quotation from MISS VII
II cannot imagine any woman writing such hard
hearted absurilties. Certainly no man, excepting a
cross, Grabbed old bachelor who knows nothing OF a
Gn 6 an Hhq bmt pTvEs and ennobg
How any woman can look back upon her own chid
hood, and remembering as sho must inc feelings her
dolls have evoked, speak Of the 'gr0csque queen OF
the play ROOM IS beyond my simple comprehension
What does this generation expect OF the little ie
~ ttn Iff<f *
Danish Santa Claus and before our ire has cooled at
such doctrine up starts another, even more heart
less TO exclude the poor, inoffensive doll from our
nurseries And yet we hear signs for children, not
miniature men and women, while We are doing all that
M T. W. Chicago, laid the number Of Baby
hood with Miss Wilarl's quotation on the desk from
which cry week Miss Harrison lectures to an atten-
tive asscmblagc Of mothers. She Is described as be-
Ing the head and front Of the a G
tho kindergarten really did regard the doll as Miss
Willard said It did. Miss Harrson's reply seems well
worth repeating:
sho said that, without having read the paper OF
Miss Willars quoted FROM she ventured to assert
that i It we're correctly gwen IT was Gny partially
quite certain would modify the statement consider
ably, for Miss Willard was too Just woman and too
clear thinker TO make such a statement unmollned.
The kindergarten does not discourage dolls On the
combining them tho little girls IN its care, but ex.
tending them 10 the boys as well To take away
walton OF the parental instinct from their playlifc7
Miss Harrison. however, admitted that there Is a
aa%sf In G Thc c GHG'i be %f
look upon the doll with affection not upon the dolls
clothes ana a Io e o go IL e @S Sha or
1eacer and through thus thus initiating T their aron
opinion tho doll is specially important to boys as
ercisng a softCnng influence gu them. In a state
81 ep boy Is ui ro as 0q BEING Dr as a md
pointed by the finger Of scorn that he learns 70
that anything which makes a boy despso the occupa-
tons and anuScments Of his sisters 10 be deprecated
ncnt innocent and delightful for both sexes Charles
Dickens. In Bleak House, sets forth very beautifully
the lender and gracious part doll may play IN
child's life.
"A Russian Mother relates her experience with
her own sX-yearod girl who occasionally gets dolls
from hcr friends dressed up with ribbons laces etc.
but who always, before she begins to play with any
Of them. asks her mother to take oil the ribbons,
necklace, and ear rings except the embroidery on me
neck and sleeves. She never puts on the dolls the
things which she does not wear herself
tina, lady the dolls are what the mothers make of
thcnl-n other words, the dolls are but mirror Of
the famys notions Of dress; habits; etc II mother
daily spends a good deal of time in dressing herself
and her little ard particularly If she docs It with
big dose Of vanity, you may be sure that her 1.-THE
urls doll Will be but 'groes1ue queen OF the play,
DOM, In which the love Of dress and the lust OF
&c eye will be daily exercised. On the other hand,
II mother has good sense in regard 10 dress
her little girl VII! have in her doll PLAYMATE which
be dressed Itself ir the same plain, neat, and clean
way the child
Another point to be considered IS the pleasure that
would be taken from the little folks If the world I'm
general listened to Miss Willard. To deprive them
Of their dolls, no matter what else might be sub.
childhood At tho best these faithful companions are
nG nina s years car on SpEs s oo b for
dolls, and find less safe entertainment In listening 10
tho gossip of their elders or in hcng IL pa no
harm than all the dolls in C !, sa CO.
nega, " T.. considers dolls and she relates the fol-
lowing experience as case IN point :, chm
had slept well in her new bed, which she hid occu-
pied for the first time;
WHY S'G asked wasn't It COMFORTABLY
eyes she replied, but was against the hard
(neaning the sides Of the wooden crib.
".Eut why didn't you lie In the middle of the bed p
~.wen. because my baby doll was in the middle
Of the bed She doesn't Ike the hard either
wasn't that g%Pse Of ths true U F a:s
clish school Is indeed that queen of the play room,
e p b. Quincy, Mass, in considering the doll
as an educator says
a large part of the good which have gained
has to me through my little china headed, saw
handle them tendcrly when take them down on
sunday afternoons for my children to play with They
children She loved them and taught me to train
and care for them They had plenty Of clothes, but
soon as became old enough planned. cut. and made
them all myself from such odds and ends of cloth as
could be spared and II is 10 this, and. as far As
know. to This alone, that owe happy faculty.
which has proved Of untold service TO me, OF making
labor expense My dolls never dressed above
their station. They gnghamS and prints IN tho
morning aud something nicer In the afternoon, just
l did. The best dresses were sometimes OF silk.
but mine. IL never occurred To me that
either they or had more cause for pride In one set
Of dresses than I'm anJther'
Miss Willard finds her warmeSt defender In An
OMFashioned New Hampshire Mother who writes:
=" very glad when friend showed me the
number Of your magazine In which Miss Willard con-
tcmned that antquated nuisance-the doll have
had any for H. either for myself as a tle
girl that have three girls OF my own and
four boys TO take care of. When was young, as far
a my memory runs back, had 10 help my mother.
who hard working and God fearing woman,
with a large family to provide for She belles cd In
making serious men and women Of her children, and
not Affected creatures, and so do |. | think that
playing with dolls has done mischief To many
girls than religion and the teachings of life undo.
Dolls MI the minds Of girls with desire for show
love Of dress and false sentiments The doll Is really
Miss Willard says 'heathcnlsh, and ought TO have
place I'm Christian households
"P. A." New Haven, feels rather dinldent about
writing 10 BabyhOOd' concerning the doll question,
he does not know whether fathers are allowed TO
lt.I