The Washington times., 1913-11-30
is REGULAR JOY MAKER
Smile Inspirer Clad Only in Juve-
nile Grace, Enough to Melt
Bachelors Heart.
By FLORENCE E. YoDER.

Of the woman's magazines. dignifled
periodicals, ank the outside covers
of the weeklie1, they have, aided and
abetted by a third dimension, taken
shops, homes, and places of all kinds
Of business by storm.
Every year or so the civilized
world is visited by sending" Now
sending" as all of those who have
read their kipling faithfully, will
know, is a concrete manifestation oi
a higher civilized, stronger will than
our own, and may be either good OF
bad. A person may be subjected to a
third degree" of certain brand o.
blotter. Immediately they are to be
found at every turn-in books, in
clothing, in a thousand different
places where respectable blotters
never venture. Kipling once told
about sending of little cats. That
was unpleasant, a blotter deluge is
annoying but harmless, and the visi-
tations which are the very best in
the world are not usually recognized
as sendings at all!
But they are, just the same, and il
they come too fast, or do not suit
the public, they are very soon
drummed out bag and baggage. All
public fads are sendings-the Teddy
Bear was one, the Billiken, the green
Alpine hat, the long, tickly feather,
and the slit skirt Few live over two
years, many die in one.
The sending for this year, the lead
ing man in the Christmas toy drama,
and the most important manifestation
of the times is the Kewpie doll, and 1t
will live. To take a fast hold upon the
public a fad must be either very, very
good or. very, very bad, the mediocre
manifestations die an easy death. Since
there is good in the worst Of us, and
bad in the best Of us, the extremes
always find a market, and therefore
live.
Now a Kewpie has never been known
to inspire anything but smiles, and Is
therefore a good sending. Try it and
see. One look at the little naked fell
low, without a mean thought in his
head or a cloe on his back. standing
with his little bare legs and heels at
attention" but with his head cooked
on one side and his face bearing an ap-
pealing and ingratiatrng smile that beg
gars description, is enough to melt
heart OLA bachelor.
His arms are outstretched and his
fingers outspread, ne implores Take
me home" And that is just what nine
with him. His smile penetrates the in
nermost recesses of a Crouch as water
vets a spopgs. His nakedness and up
standing coiffure exert fascination
more seductive than the wiles OF Cleo
patra and the hold that he has gained
upon the whole word Is unbelievable.
He exerts nothing but good, and Is a
good visitation. Since he Is really moth
ing more nor less than naked baby,
and as naked babies from the time OF
Adam have proved such popular fad
that they have become sort of an insti-
tuition, ii looks as if the Kewpe had
come to stay.
Never before has popular hobby
been made up in so many dinerent ma
terials. Children generally get what
they want, and since they saw and ad-
mired the Kewpie rhymes and stories
in the magazines, and demanded a
Kewpie doll, they have been given him.
not only in one, but in five or six diff
ferent forms. He Is made of rubber, or
celluloid, of bisque, of china, of plaster
of paris and of cloth.
Is a True Sending.
The main point in favor Of the ire
sistible kewpie, however, lies not alone
in his power to fascinate the children.
The fact that he has laid violent hold
upon the affections of grown persons
has sealed his fate forever. He Is h true
sending. He smirks from the office
desks and mussy bedroom chinoniers OF
crusty bachelors; ne has his smile
flashed back at him by the debutante
as she tucks in the final stray lock OF
hair at her mirror: in all his un-
clothed dignity. he invades the sane
tum sanCtorum of the elderly maiden
lady and the StrOngminded young
woman. Besides all of this attention
from the old. he is packed off to bed
every night with the young, who know
good friend when they see one, and
refuse to let little matter like steep
interfere with friendship.
The story of his life Is romantic. and
could be made the basis perhaps of
the great American novel that Is to
come, for although all of the Kewpies
except the cloth ones are made in Ger
many, Rose Cecil O'Neill Wilson. the
originator of all of the Kewpie dolls and
of the Kewpie drawings and rhymes,
is an American girl, born and bred. She
is making a fortune out of the dolls and
her story reads like a fairy tale
She was born in Wilkesbarre. Penn
sylvania, but before she had become
more than a rather large sized Kewpie
herself her parents took her with her
little brother and sisters to Missouri.
where they took up a homestead far
down In the Ozark Mountains. The fam
lily had time to get little more than set
tied when the California gold craze OF
40 broke out and Roses father was
one Of the first to go. Rose was the
oldest, and the care of tn" family natur-
ally fell upon her shoulders.
Studied Babies.
She was sister. mother, nurse and con-
slant playmate to her mothers babies
Their smiles. their antics. their very
anatomy was a matter of grave con-
cern and constant attention from her