Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-12-21
MANUFACTURE OF DOLLS.
Thriving Industry In England and
switzerland-Dolls' 4, \.

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 10 real
skins, glass eyes and other luxurics in
place of the yellow paint and blue
spots Of the antediluvian animals of
our childhood, so the doll has risen in
dignity 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 n 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 are disappearing before the
new race; still, though in England
doll making has become a manufact-
ure, large importations are yet made
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, rs a rule,
subdivide their labors; some carve
heads and bodies, others paint faces,
and Others are manufactu' RS of arms
and legs, while another group cut ont,
sew and pat on the dresses. then the
dealers come round, collect the scat
tered members and have them put to-
getler in a wholesale way. All these
dolls can be made and imported nj a
cost far below that at which they could
be executed by hand labor in Eng
land.
When, however, we como 10 the real
hi,h class doll. the aristoc ICY of the
nursery, so 70 speak, with beautiful
pink waxcn neck and fat, curved arms,
with golden locks and real eyebrows
and ~eyelashes round III ir large lus-
trous orbs of dazzling beauty, we find
the English trade can hold its own.
In London there are al sorts of doll
makers, workers in rags-and there is
certain charm in the old rag doll,
though she cannot well be counted
among the upper ten of her acc
in wax, gutta percha, India rubber
in which there is a special trade in
black dolls made for export to America
20 delight little negresscs-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-
Gently there has been established a
;veritable dolls hospital, whereto can
be brought the poor thing with a bat
tered head or a disfigured nose, pro-
duced by the incautious placing Of
dolly near the fire TO warm herself.
Thither also repairs the dolly whose
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 alphabetically attended to
"a very wise and proper feeling to
foster in children, who take a long
time 10 learn 10 love a new doll, and
cling pasSionately to their battered old
friend. Dolls eyes, it may be men,
toned, are a regular trade in them
selves, and in evidence given before
the house of commons a Birmingham
manufacturer stated that he had re-
ceivcd at one time an order for $500
worth of glass eyes. Of course the
cheaper dolls eyes are simply small
hollow glass beads made Of white en-
amel and eolored with black or blue,
without any attempt al variety or e.
preston; but the grander dolls have
iris and pupil and sclerotic constructed
on the highest lines Of ophthalmology.
There are some curious trade secrets
in connection with dolls eyes which
follow certain fashions. For instance,
since her majesty came 10 The throne
there hiss been n distinct ruu ON blue
eyes, and blue eyed dolls arc specially
made for the English market. On the
continent, however, and particularly
In Spain, black eyes are in greater re-
quest. Much might be said concern
ing the dolls who walk and raise their
glasses at intervals; the little naughty
duchesses in long trains. who say
''papa' and mamma Of their own
free will and accord, and never conde-
scend 10 an undignilcd end, indeed.
illiterate squeak; and the musical
dolls end the gentleman doll who
smolies cigarettes. The small public
have little love for this last parsonage,
and. indeed, the best authorities rather
pronounce against the male doll alto
gether, for lac finds small favor in a
well regulated dolls house, where the
tiny menage, as seen in section, is, as
a rule, exclusively feminine. London
Telegraph