Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1907-09-27
TAKES PAPER DOLLS
Woman Who Lives BY Proceeds
OF Odd Profession.

| y
devoured the paper doll baby
said Miss Constance Nunnse, Of
Maryland, who is credited by the
various branches of the Woman's
Exchange with making the most
beautiful paper dolls on the mar.
ket. "In spite of the craze for the
fuzzy little bruins, | have meyer
received as many orders for paper
dolls.
ut was quite BY accident that |
became a paper doll maker BY pro-
fl ssion. When | was girl | used
to make my pin money by painting
and selling water-color sketches OF
the three Confederate flags. As |
had never had lesson in painting
or drawing in my life, you may
guess what crude little attempts
they were. | sold them for 81
apiece, and sometimes would get
'rders for several from the same
person, who wished to give some
little memento to Confederate vet
Grams.
II remember once that received
through friend an order for three
copies Of my flags from a young
woman who was visiting in Wash
ington. She asked that | take
particular pains with them, as she
intended to give one to the widow
Of the President of the Confeder-
acy and The others to two old ladies
who were still devoted to the Lost
Cause. When nv check came for
those three sketches it was for 20
instead of 50, and a mere graceful,
encouraging letter | never expect
to read.
"She wrote ME that she, too, was
a Southern who owned her own
money. She told ME Of her first
efforts as a writer and. hoping that
| would perserve,pointed out a way
whereby ! might earn money to
take art lessons. That way was
paper dolls sold through the Wom-
ans Exchange. | didn't do much
with my first effort, but the next
winter ] accepted an invitation to
visit friend in large city Of the
Middle West. In the exchange in
that city | saw for the first time a
really beautiful paper doll. 1t was
dressed in white china silk and had
real straw hat. Of course, |
knew at once that it was such dolls
that the young author had in
mind.
"All through that visit ] was
studying faces and costumes and
spending my few pennies for ma.
terials. When | returned home |
set to work, and at the end Of the
second week forwarded to that
woman's exchange half a dozen
young lady dolls with their sum-
mer outfits Of dresses, underwear.
bats, parasols and fans. They were
all sold The day they were put on
exhibition, and an order came back
that kept me working hard for a
month.
"That summer devoted my time
to making dolls for the autumn
aud winter trade. / sent to Paris
and London for the latest fashion
books, and | made my doll trous-
seaux by them. With the money
I earned on the dolls sold that win.
ter | not only was able to come to
the city and take my first course in
an art school, but was able to
bring my young sister with me
and pay her expenses as a music
pupil.
"All our spare moments were de-
voted to making paper dolls.
While she could not help me with
the painting, she was particularly
deft with the needle. | am sure
some Of the most beautiful dolls |
have ever sent out were made that
winter. The next year things
went so we'll with US that we
thought ourselves justified in EN-.
ploying an assistant. ! can't say
just why, but the result was not
satisfactory. We not only had
several dolls and their clothes re-
turned, but received many letters
of remonstrance from the exchan.
ges that had sold for US, inclosing
fault-finding letters from custo-