The times., 1899-04-16


called upstairs, the wax baby was solemnly
lifted from her blue case, laid across my
arms her long, long, baby dress fell to my
feet and was warned to take care of her.
l don't think l gave her name and
don't know what became of her.
When I was eight years old my story
books were too complex for such illustra-
tions as the toys clce provided, and have
dim memory of wet Saturday and -Sto-
ries from Ancient History and a minia-
ture funeral pyre within the nursery fire.
on which all the heroes of my first ro-
nantes received the fiery solution. / think
of them all tenderly now. There was a
pathos about those graceless wooden toys
some CT which l can recall with vivid
ness almost startling. They still live,
though they never had life, and this is
mystery which in my next idle hour must
ponder"
What Mrs. Barr felt concerning her dclIs
and her experience with them is very like
the affection Mrs. Burton Harrison lavish
ed on hers and the exciting life she led
them.
She says: "Up to the age Of thirteen.
when | put one of them away Ito go into
the drawing-room of our Virginia home to
receive the visit of two high school boys
who bad taken heart OF grace to calD.
thought dolls the most absorbing objects
III the WOTiu dClSu shakespeare plays
and old ballads with them, and at other
times hugged them to truly loving heart
declaring that nothing should ever make
me give them up, no matter what older
people said. But out of the ranks Of my
dramatis personae no one now arises, alas,
more conspicuous than another
Miss Mary wilkins was not very depend
ent ON doll friendships, evidently. for when
oblgingly searching her memory for rec
objections Of these nursery characters she
can only recall one Or two.
There was a black doll by the name of
Topsy which | was very fond Of and
had blue-eyed doll l called Nelly, whose
best dress was a white dotted Swiss, and
wore beautiful little pink shoes with
buckles made by an old lady who lived
opposite. I played with my dolls. OF course,
but there are no facts of special interest
rin connection with them. | never broke
one, remember, and Nelly, to be sure, al
ways seemed singularly alive TO me. /
even think of her now as of living COM
panion of my childhood. quite unlike two
large dolls who led tranquil. uneventful
lives and who never dignifed any warm
interest or affection"
To hear Madam Emma Eames' Story
Talk of Violet" one would be apt to con-
elude that this young lady had exerted a
marked influence on the life of our great
est prima donna. And so she did, for doll
as she was she Is remembered a5 the first
and one of the lasting loves in Madam
Eames' life When Madam Eames tells
about Violet, one is likely to forget that
she was a doll, and accept her as tragic
little human being, for whom every SYM
pathy Is aroused.
Violet was little Emma's favorite of all
her doll family, and was cherished with
4 |.
Reached the age of eleven. Violet entered
this life in the kid and sawdust state, and
was a charming type OF her race. Her
joints were wire-hinged, her wig was a
beauty, and during the years of her close
companionship with Mistress Emma she
grew steadily thinner and shabb.er, while
her devoted owner grew taller and .ovelier
to look upon. Violet's loss of looks never
cooled in the heart her young mothers
love and nothing ever parted them urtil
il was decided that the dolls and Miss
Emma should live with that young lady's
grandmother. 1t was then that an int-
mate friend of the Eames family under
took to prepare the little girl for her
journey, and feeling neither interest in
nor sympathy with the sentiments and as
sociations that united the ardent child
and the forlorn little doll. she quietly
threw Violet away.
To this day Madam Games frankly con-
fesses she has never forgiven this deed.
nor has she ever been willing to meet
again the perpetrator of so stupid and un-
kind an, act The loss of Violet was for a
long time poignant grief, beyond the
reach EFF consolation and to this day not
only is Violet remembered with great
tenderness, but happily would the prima
donna pay down a big, round sum If the
shabby little kid doll could be restored to
In sharp contrast to this pretty testi-
mo1y OF the affection possible between
doll and its owner is the admission OF Mrs.
Ruth McEnery Stuart that dolls and the
astimes they evoke played but slight parts
in her childish days. 1t is just a triile as
ronishing. the author herself confesses, to
find that writer who makes purely imagi-
nary people live and move and have their
being, saying of her dolls:
Il was never what might be called
doll lover. l ceased playing with dolls
when / was a very small girl, and pos
sessed all sorts and conditions of them
from porcelain dolls, with glossy black
china curls and staring blue eyes, to fine
ladies with bisque heads, and even paper
dolls. / daresay l was fond of them in
casual fashion. when they We're very new,
but | always held them at arms length.
"a
they were cold. irresponsve cheats, not
half so fine as a black baby or even a bird
or kitten. Still there were times when we
played dolls and our shop dolls were pleas
ed then to sit up and stare at professions
of corn-silk babies whom We would bring
to call upon them.
Every country child knows what a
corn-sills baby is. and though I thought
them pretty wabbly and featureless, they
were alive and growing, and had. to my
mind, a worthiness not attained by their
sawdust- filled betters. l am sorry my
dolls were so little remarkable. They
must have been happy, for to the best of
my knowledge and belief they had no his
tory"
This is what Kate Douglas Wiggin tells
of her dolls, and. as may be expected. her
confessions are both interesting and char
acterisuc.
only one doll ever had affection for,
and | have preserved her to this day.
Gray cotton gown trimmed with Turkey
red. (DoiIs didn't dress in the fash on
then, thank goodnessD 1t would seem
that my feeling for her was not very pro-
found, for l cannot remember her name,