The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-08
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
washington. d. C.
CENTURIES OF DOLLS.
Washington. d. C.

thesis on the history of the world this
season has come to realize with a
shock how incredibly young the race
Is. 1t seems only few years ago
that men were gossiping about the
new revolutionary invention of fire.
building. and you feel as if you can
almost remember Rameses II.
But If you aren't reading Wells,
consider the case of dolls. It will
prove the same thing.
Dolls are tremendously popular this
| season. They are enjoying a tremen-
| dous vogue on the stage. and the
sales managers of toy departments
are delighted with the huge number
of Christmas dolls that were sold. Yet,
take a look into history. or even a
city museum, and you find the same
thing occurring thousands of years
ago. Dolls were quite as much in de-
mand in Cleopatra's time. and the
dolls of that day were just as deserv-
| ing of admiration, too. That is, they
were just as beautiful and accom-
plished.
| Who played with the first doll and
when. remains a battling mystery, but
| it is definitely suspected that the spe-
| cies began to appear soon after the
cave man settled down to permanent
domestic life. Tolls of a crude sort
are found among the belongings of the
| most primitive tribes, where they usu-
| ally possess some religious signifi-
| canoe having to do with the sun or
snakes. or whatever it is that the
| tribe worships.
Altho there is no trace of them, the
| first civilized dolls are supposed to
have occurred in the Orient at the time
when the Orient was almost all of the
known world, for the early mythology
| or the country aboundS with stories
concerning them. They were made, it
| Is believed, in the images of gods, but
in every other way they were quite
modern. They walked and moved
their hands and closed their eyes and
talked, even as they do today, only the
| talking was accomplished by the in
sertion of talking starting into their
hollow anatomies.
Dolls of Long Ago.
With the rise of the early Egyptian
empire, we find the doll fully estab-
lished as an important accessory to
child life. 1t was probably more varied
md amusing in 1000 B. c., than it has
ever been since, in spite of the many
generations of doll specialists that
a paddle shaped body, painted with
black and white squares-a pattern
which often led the adults of the
household to borrow it for game OF
checkers or chess. In others, its wood
en- body was brightly painted like. a
sign. such as the picture of a pig
Sometimes it also had flowing locks
consisting of mud beads made from
the mud of the sacred river Nile. Like
the cat, the doll was greatly esteemed
as a household pet in these days, and
was frequently mummified along with
it's mistress
In China and Japan the doll long
ago reached a high state of develop
ment. 1t was there that the puppet
and shadow dolls originated. and
there also the rofy-poly doll, which
n iT-ct
produced. The. finest dolls OF the
Monaghan empire were made to repre-
sent gods and later to represent promi-
nent priests or members of the en-
peror's family Doll gods are still used
in the Chinese joss houses, while in
Japan they are still patterned after
prominent citizens, such as the min
isteE- of war and the honorable super
intendent of education.
In China, one of the most popular
doll versions is that made of donkey
skin, with the head of a human being
and the body of fish, bird or some
other animal. This roll is flat, and,
with the aid of a sheet and dark
lantern, lends itself admirably to
shadow pictures. 1t is believed that
the first puppet play, which is being
revived to such large extent toda.-,
originated in China.
japanese Dolls.
Dolls have always been highly re-
garded in Japan, where many curious
customs have grown up around them.
According to one of these, every
Japanese baby girl whose family could
afford it. was presented with what is
known as a "hina"-a set of dolls,
representing the Mikado and his wife
and their favorite musicians and cour-
tiers. The ''hina" was not played
with daily, like other common dolls,
but was kept in a large vault. known
as the "godown" and brought forth
only on holidays. Upon the marriage
of the japanese maiden, the "hina" be-
came the property of her husband,
who guarded it securely until the mar
riage of his eldest son, when it would
be turned over to him. In this way
doll collections grew in Japan with
every passing generation, so that when
a prominent citizen died his property
included an enormous and valuable
doll collection.
Japan still celebrates Doll Day,
when every shop is filled with dolls.
More dolls are sold on this day in
Japan than are sold in this country
during Christmas. 1t is a day OF great
festivity. But not SO Doll Day in
India, which is a time of great 1amen-
tation and sadness. For then, the lit
tie girls of India bring their dolls to
the banks of the River Ganges and,
weeping, throw them Into it's current,
custom having decreed that the river
must receive this sacrifice. Further
more, for three months after this dra-
natlc ceremonial, play with dolls is
Pre- hib-teu. and even doll-making is
regarded with stern disfavor
The materials of which dolls are
made have varied but little in all the
thousands of years of their history.
according to the owner of a remark
able doll collection in a New York art
gallery. The Greek dolls were of wax
and the Egyptian dolls of wood, and
there is still A little stuffed doll in
existence, which scientists aver is 100
years old During all this time, more
over, doll-makers have shown the
same characteristics. That is, the an
Gent Greeks as well as modern Ameri-
cans have tired-at intervals-of pro-
ducing ideally beautiful dolls and have
deliberately striven to produce sensa-
tinnal results in the Comb,