The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-06
Frederic Haslsin's Letter
Centuries Of Dolls.

New York City, Jan. Avery
body Who Il reading H. @. Wells
slender thesis on the history Of the
world this season has come to re-
alise with . shock how incredibly
young the race Is. It seems only
. few years ago that men were
gossiping about the new revolu-
tionary invention Of fire-building,
and you feel - II you can almost
remember RAmeses II.
But II you aren't reading Wells,
consider the case Of dolls. 1t will
prove the same thing.
Dolls are tremendously popular
this season. They are enjoying .
tremendous vogue on the stage, and
the sales managers Of toy depart
ments are delighted with the huge
number Of Christmas dolls that
we're sold. Yet, take q look into
history, or even q city museum,
and you find the same thing occur
ring thousands Of years ago. Dolls
were quite rs much in demand in
CleOpatra's time, and the dolls OF
that day were just as deserving of
admiration, too. That is, they were
Just as beautiful and accomplished.
Who played with the first doll
and when, remains q battling mys-
terry. but it is definitely suspected
that the species began to appear
soon after the cave man settled
down to permanent domestic life.
Dolls Of q 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 1t Is that the
tribe worships.
Although 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 Of the
country abounds with stories con-
corning them. They we're 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 accom-
plished by the insertion OF q talk
ing Startling into their hollow anat-
omies.
Dolls of Long Ago.
With the rise Of the early Egyp-
tian empire, we find the doll fully
established as an important Access
sorry to child life. It was probably
more varied and amusing in 1000
B. C. than It has ever been since,
in spite Of the many generations Of
doll specialists that have followed.
In some cases It had q paddle
shaped body, painted with black
and white squares pattern which
often led the adults of the house
hold to borrow it for . game Of
checkers or chess. In others, its
wooden body was brightly painted
like a mummy case and often bore
. lucky sign, such rs the picture OF
a pig. Sometimes it also had flow
ing locks consisting of mud beads
made from the mud Of the sacred
river Nile. Like the cat, the doll
was greatly esteemed rs q house
hold pet in these days, and was
frequently mummifed along with
It's mistress.
In China and Japan the doll long
ago reached a high state Of devel-
opment. 1t was there that the pup.
pet and shadow dolls originated
and there also the roly-poly doll
which cannot be made to lie down
was first produced. The first dolls
Of the Monaghan empire were made
to represent gods and later to rep.
resent prominent priests or mem.
bers Of the emperor's family. Dol
gods are still used in the Chinese
joss houses. while in Japan they
are still patterned after prominent
citizens. such as the minister o.
war and the honorable superintend'
ent Of education.
In China, one Of the most popu'
lar doll versions is that made Of
donkey skin, with the head Of 6
human being and the body Of q
fish, bird or some other animal
This doll is fat, and. with the aid
~ q .hoot and dark 1snfapp 1ouds