, 1888-12-04
MANUFACTURE OF DOLLS.
A Thriving Industry In England and
switzerIand-DoIls' Eyes.

Eyes.
Dolls, like other toys, have gone
with the times, and even as the ami
mails in Noah's ark have become al
most artistic, and now tend TO real
skins, glass eyes and other Injuries in
place of the yellow paint and blue
spots'of the antediluvian animals of
our childhood, SO the doll has risen in
Lightly and realism. Long ago dolls
were chiefly imported into Great
Britain from the Netherlands, and
hence not an unusual name for a doll
was a FLANDERS baby" These Dutch
and German dolls possessed perfectly
round heads, a little stuck out nose,
invariably parted their black painted
hair in the middle, pointed their toes,
stuck out one thumb, and were so Gu
riously jointed and articulated that
every attitude they were made to as
sumo at the will and pleasure of their
owner was of a mildly medieval sort.
They r disappearing before the
new race; still, though in England
doll making has become a manufaC
urc, large importations are yet mat.
from the countries on the Rhine, from
France and from Switzerland, where
the Industrious people make dolls all
the long winter when there are no
tourists to be guided up and down
mountains. The villagers, as n rule,
subdivide their labors; some carve
heads and bodies, others paint faces,
and others are manufacturers of arms
and legs, while another group cut out,
sew and put on the dresses; then the
dealers come round, collect the scat
tered members and have them put to-
gether in a wholesale way. All these
dolls can be made and imported at a
cost far below that at which they could
be executed by hand labor in Eng.
land.
When, however, we come to the real
high class doll, the a~ristocracy of the
nursery, SO to speak, with beautiful
pink waxen neck and fat, curved arms,
with golden locks and real eyebrows
and eyelashes round their large lus-
trous orbs of dazzling beauty, we find
the English trade can hold its own.
In London there are all sorts of doll
makers, workers i'll rags-and there is
n certain charm in the old rag doll.
though she cannot well be counted
among the upper ten" of her race
in wax, gutta percha, India rubber
in which there is a special trade III
black dolls made for export to America
to delight little negresses-and com
positions and papier mache of all
sorts.
Here, too, there exists an economic
division of labor, for we have dolls
head makers, leg makers, wig makers,
eye makers, and so forth; and re-
veritable dolls hospital, whereto can
ln hY,ot, rlf fhn MOON f1snpr u-,f1, n In4
tered head or a disfigured nose, pro
duced by the incautious placing OF
dolly near the fire to warm herself.
eyes refuse to close when told to go
to by-by," or who suffers from inter
nal disorders of her wires; and her
wants are sympathetically attended to
"a very wise and proper feeling to
time TO learn to love a new doll, and
friend. Dolls eyes, it may be men
selves, and in evidence given before
the house of commons a Birmingham
manufacturer stated that he had re-
ceived at one time an order for $500
worth of glass eyes. OF course the
NbSaPCi dOilo clCS dIt blIllDly SIuall
hollow glass beads made of White en-
amel and colored with black or blue,
without any attempt at variety or ex-
preston; but the grander dolls have
iris and pupil and s~clerotic constructed
on the highest lines of ophthalmology.
There are some curious trade secrets
in connection with dolls eyes which
follow certain fashions. For instance,
rince her majesty came to the throne
there has been n distinct run on blue
eyes, and blue eyed dolls are specially
made for the English market. On the
continent, however, and particularly
n Spain, black eyes are in greater re
quest, Much might be said concern
ing the dolls who walk and raise thciI
glasses at intervals; the little naughty
dEchesscs in long trains, who say
papa" and mamma" of their W
free Will and accord, and never conde-
rccnd to an undigniiied and, indeed,
illitorato squeak; and the musical
dolls and the gentleman doll who
emobes cigarettes. The small public
lave little love for this last parsonage,
and, indeed, the best authorities rather
pronounce against the malo doll alto
gether, for he finds small favor in a
well regulated dolls house, where the
tiny menage, as seen in section, is, as
. rule, exclusively administrator
Telegraph.