The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-24
DOLLS DELIGHT LITTLE MOTHERS
Of High and Low Degree
 Dolls of All Ages Are En- tered for Rowland Prize

Never. perhaps has an exhibit of any kind attracted more attention than the Dolls Festival which is being held this week in Howland's g expectations in every way. Over 5o0 dolls, garbed in every fashion, and represenfing every walk Of life are ar ranged together, all properly number ed that the visiting public may vote on those which they consider worthy of prizes.
 Fully 1000 little mothers with their sbabiesss in their arms. came to the stove on Registration Day last Saturday. 1Seyer, perhaps5 were real mothers more anxious for their chil- dren than were these little fosterfnoth- won't you2'' said one tiny 1assie as she kissed her dollie goodbye and then went back and kissed him again
 Yet another, anxious that her be- loved "child's should appear spfck and span, had evidently washed the little one's dress, and then fearful lest she be too late for entry, with the dress still wet. had hurried to the store.
 In the smallest Dolr' class the very tiniest one reposes beneath a large magpifying glass. It is less than a half inch in height, is made of wood and is fully jointed This, little speci- men is a native of Germany. Sitting proudly in her carriage. as though obvious of the fact that now a-days only people who ride in auto mobiles hold their heads so high. is a lady who has in her lap a card which tells Sthe visitor that both she and her carriage were purchased 40 years ago.
 A wierd looking Indian squaw whose years number 200, probably holds the age record. A soldier on horseback 44a the exact army costume of the war al 1eO off <.fS e f. tention.
 A small peculiar looking doll, care fully preserved behind a glass, gives one an idea of the kind of dolls which the children of the French court had to play with. Following is the in scription which it bears, the dates are authentic: Made in France and brought to Baltimore in 1782 by a member of the Beauharnais family, moved to New Rochelle in 1799.''
 A Japanese doll, tall and slender, dressed in 9. dark silk kimona, with her real black hair carefully coifed in the native style calmly admits that she is 75 years old. Another doll, garb- led in gray tafeta of a by-gone period, gives her name as Miss Dalorosa, ; and thinks that since she has been in one family for more than 50 years and during that time has been prfzed by many little girls of that family, she ought to have prize. Still an- other lady claims that she is the first wax doll to come to Milford, Conn.
 Most interesting is an exhibit of small dolls dressed in the native cos tumes of Holland, Switzerland and France. These represent the differ ent costumes of the peasants of those countries.
 Among the s'Hornliest Doll Glass; is sssnookuns'' of the connie supplement fame.
 But 'trro1lId be impossible to de- scribe them all
 There are so many of them. all wor- thy of description and each represent ing some fond little heart who,- sure that her beloved dollie will carry off the laureLs in it's particular class, is most anxiously awaiting the day when the prizes are to be awarded. Nor is the interest in the Dolls festival confined alone to the little folks, for the millinery department of lHowland's, where it is held is daily crowded with interested Grown ms ',s