Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-01-11
HISTORY OF DOLLS.
rhelr Manufacture ia. Rep, Pace With
Civilizations Progress.

Th-lr Manufacture Has Kept Pace with
Civilizations Progress
Only those who have been through
Il all for themselves eau understand the
broad, deep place that the doll holdsin
the baby's heart, and how the childish
Imagination beauties II, or reproduccs
by IT, means all the pleasures and sor'
rows Of infentile existence. George
Eliot appreciated this last feeling when
she made poor little Maggie Tulliver
lind the outlet for her RACES by driving
nail into hairless wooden skull
Then. too. the doll Is significant, not
only for IL vide and curious history.
but because In the great progress Of
civilization Il has Kept pace with more
serious things. until today lis evolu.
ton Is an event 10 be proud Of Not
that Il has ever been treated lightly rs
thing Of no account On the con.
trary, Tacitus IN his time told the Ger.
mans that far back In gray intiquity
their ancestors werc IN the habit Of
burying with the dead the objects dear
est 10 them, and subsequent eXcava
iions made at Nuremburg during the
last century have brought to light
variable dolls louse and various clay
figures, proved TO be the plaything, oi
the little ancient Germans. whose fail.
ings and feelings We're not. after all,
very different from those OF the'present
small American
II was about 800 A D. that the i'm.
portancc of the doll was fully demon
stratcd by a vigorous and orthodox per
sscntion carried on against II in the
church To play with one was strictly
forbidden. since rs children of the
devil, they w-re destructive TO the
soul. aud all those ancient customs In
which they had any part--such ns tho
sacrificing OF doll TO Venus on the
morning Of marriage to Indicate that
the bride had put away childish things
were likewise strictly prohibited
But even this heroic treatment failed
TO accomplish IT, object or stille the
progressive instinct IN the disgrnccd
ones. for when art and wealth began to
center In the French capital, those dol.
lies OF aristocratic pretcntions aban-
dnncd their more plebeian companions.
promptly migrated IRON Germany aud
Ia due course became thorough Pari.
slams from the top OF their fuzzy perikes
To the pointed toes OF their tiny slip
pers Aud then IL was that the really
serious destiny Of the doh began. In
the absence Of fashion Journals. aud
limited by difficulties m transportation,
the French modiste turned ~ his des
pair to this little lay figure
Gowned IN the most fnvishing eos
tune then Ia mode. he sent her out
into the distant provinces to excite imi
tation aud incnlcate extnvugance IN
all womankind. As Az outcome Of
this, the most Injurious DANES Ind
models made after their own measure
monts aud sent to town to be fitted ;
and In this way the French doll came
to take precedence over all other dolls,
aud 10 mean even now a thing OF beauty
and n word OF power.
From "A gravcr point Of view, a Ger
man writer has suggested that the doll
may have real psychical Importance
lie advances tho theory that by the
way a child handles, carcsscs, cares Tor
or neglects Il, correct idea may be-
gathered Of tho growth of character,
aud Ia eorroboation OF this lac calls at.
tcntiou to the fact that the doh Is most
popular In those countries where the
domestic and maternal instinct Is the
strongest. Boston Transcript