Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-12-24
At THE DOLLS HOSPITAL.
Dsft Treatment Of the MANNED Mani
kin's Ailments.

At the dolls hospital the sorrows of
childhood are mended. Upon each
mimic infant that is presented there
for healing has been lavished the first
expression of the strongest human feel
ing-ina,ernal love. The child's fond
ness for her doll is the embryo of the
mother's wonderful and powerful love
Of her offspring. SO that each broken
leg or dislocated shoulder or lost eye
which Us replaced or repaired by the
doll surgeon tells of pang of sorrow
of some chiid-a fieeting thing, to be
sure, but feeling that is tremendously
important while it lives. So the doll
hospital represents pain just as the hu-
man hospital does. With the manned
toys each chronicle a serious incident in
The life of a child, some of them tell
much more. One day the doll doctor
received an express package and a let
ter from a man i'm North Carolina. The
package contained an old and battered
doll The paint had been scraped from
its nose and cheeks. One eye was out
A leg was broken, the head and Shout
ders Were severed from the body and
saWdust. which is the dolls blood"
was escaping.
u nv FlttT WIZ VERY SIOIe anu DuSi-
ness like. II WISH" it said, that in
repairing this doll you would preserve
with as little change as possible the
face. We wish to keep the doll on ac-
count of its associations" Back of this
mans letter and his act of sending
child's toy to be repaired was hidden a
deep and tender SORROW. He was anxi-
ous that the broken, ludicrous play
Oh - /,
when his little child had loved it and
played with it. To make a change in
the laugha Bile face of the doll which his
little girl had caressed-even that was a
dasecration. I'VE" he wrote, want to
keep at on account of its associations"
Then he was not alone I'm his mourning,
fot the mother suffered too.
So the doll surgeon has double office
to heal the sorrows of the children,
nd to soOthe and comfort the grief of
TIFF fathers and mothers And he goes
about II in very practical way. He
has all sizes. shapes and compilations
of dolls heads; great heap of eyes
that can be substituted for those which
are lost and numerous odd legs and
arms that are used to replace those
which are broken or missing. Then
with thread-and-needle and paste ANA
glue, and half Il dozen young women
Just before Christmas, when times are
lfeliest i'm the doll institution. the
nlending of the whole body is skillfully
effected. 1t often costs much more to
repair broken doll than to buy a new
one of the same sort. Never mind that
doll once adopted by the little mother
acquires an individuality which is
ntver lost. and the matter of the cost
OF mending becomes a secondary con-
slderation.
Every large city has it's doll hospital
IN New York there are several of them
Ilhe doll SURGEONS do not confine them
selves merely. to the repairing of the
toys They manufacture dolls for spe-
otal purposes or occasions, and they
sell them, besides by the Wholesale ana
retail. The manufacture and sale of
dolls is one of the great industries ofthe
world; and it is an industry that
will probably last as long rs there are
little girls in the world.-Leslie's Week
W..