Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-06
For the Little Girls Of East India:

small dais, exactly as the Nfkados and their wives
sat during the that the various Shoguns ruled
the Island Empire. In addition there are five court
musicians and occasionally courters and members OF
the royal family. Although these bought for the
small girl she is allowed to use them except on
fete day and at the time of the annual holiday. They,
with other dolls, in the freproot storage
house. which is called a goodwin"
When the girl marries and goes to her new home
the china" goes with her. and remains with her until
her eldest marres when he into possession
it, Thus it will be that in old families the col
ectons of dolls become large and very valuable The
Tokugawa family, the last Shotgun, had wonderful
collection of "hinas."
Weeks before tho fete day arrives the small child
sends out invitations to her relatives asking them TO
come and see her dolls The notes of invitation, writ
ten in the quaint Japanese characters on fine rice
paper exquisitely decorated, works Of art
When the day arrives the dolls are brought out Of
the goodwin and arranged in one of the large rooms
of the house. graduated shelves, covered with red
cloth, which is the color of joy and pleasure. Some
delicious rice cakes rice candy and other sweeties
comprise the menu which is placed before the small
army of dolls. Saki purposely Drewed weak, IS
poured into eggshe china cups of inhn1tesimal
size When the dolls have refused to eat or drink
ANYTHING more these butterfly babies, robed in the
most gorgeous kimonos imaginable, calmly refresh
themselves in what remains of the feast
A favorite doll among natives and foreigners is
one with five wigs representing, with little change
of dress, the five different stages in the life OF a
woman. The greatest change comes when the girl
marries and must exchange her red pettcoat and
brilliant hued kimono for the sober, sort grays ana
browns
An aged woman is so much respected in the Orient
that she makes no effort to keep up appearances
improve personal appearance hence the doll thar
has reached that stage wears her hair in hopeessy
unbecomng fashion, combed away from the fore
head and twisted into small knot at the back--no
more elaborate couture beautiful harpinS for her.
She is old and doesn't to care who knows II or
how much she shows it. Very small girls carry COILS
on their backs tiny first then larger ones, untl
they strong enough to carry the baby brother OF
In Russia the ST. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, doll is
rifOq dressed
white stuff has painted mustache and whiskers 10
make him look fierce, and carries long stan IN MS
hand He represents the patron saint who is sup
posed to reward the good child by many gifts and 10
punish the bad one by Withholding his presents the
Christmas festival in Russia takes place twelve days
later than ours in conformity with the calendar OF tue
Greek Church.
There is a vast amount of folklore and legend con-
nected with dolls in Germany Christmas doll called
"Weinachtsman," embodies the Christmas spirit and
represents most pleasing form of religious thought
Instead of st. Nicholas, whose mission was to dis-
tribute measure of rewards and punishments, they
have the Christ child At holiday time little Elsches
are sold with bits of colored ribbon attached These
are arranged in a manner similar to the ,nristmas
tree. At a given time doll representing che Babe OF
Bethlehem stepped from out the birch tree. This is
symbolic of the fact that love has aLen the place OF
punishment
A high caste woman CARRIED in yellow and gold braid
has her "sarr arranged in correct fashion, and
she is ordinary doll until you look and
find that the long, slim straight body reaches to her
feet Like the Queen of SPAIN she has no legs. Her
feet come out at right angles from her body ana
point one due east and the other due west showing
indisputably that she is dancing CIR. The little
manikins which the Small Indian maidens throw
into the Gauges certain day each spring to propitate
the river are made for the purpose and for three
months thereafter the child has more dolls
If all Moslems lived up to the strict tenets of their
religion there would be dolls found among Mo-
hammedan babies for the founder Of the religion
prohibited the of any picture representation
or image of the human body but-well, there are
dolls in Mohammedan households. Where they made
their appearance by whom they were introduced
1t is dicult say but certainly read that Ayesha.
the fourteen-y ear-old wife Of Mohammed, ''romped
and played with her doll"