Evening star., 1936-12-13
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

~
II FrantZ, parents with far-f1ung
~ mental horizons, decided when
4 ~ their little daughter, Jean
Hargrave, come to bless their lives
that her childhood possessions might
as we'll be meaningful in her young
life. So, when father Harry, Wash
ington newspaper correspondent whose
chosen field of endeavor often carries
him around the world, was in certain
of this earth's remote sections one
holiday time. he didn't just inclose "a
check with love" for his small daugh-
ter's Christmas present. Instead, he
sent home doll with the statement,
"Have mother tell you all about the
country from which she has come"
Mother, who had been the librarian
of the National Geographic Society
before her marriage and was accus-
toned to world viewpoint, had no
difficulty in carrying out the paternal
instruction delegated to her. About
that first dolls arrival she wove the
story of what daddy" was doing on
his trip and of the resemblance that
this dolly in all probability bore to
the little girls who were living in the
country where daddy" was visiting.
Thus Jean Frantz's present very
remarkable collection had it's be-
ginning. Today this flaxen-haired,
eager, responsive little girl who lives
at 2901 Twenty-eighth street is the
owner of more than $50 dolls-all
sorts and kinds, from all sorts and
kinds of places, the wide world over.
There are soldiers, sailors, holy men,
tribal chieftains, great ladies, simple
peasants. mother dolls and father
dolls, whole families in miniature so
tiny that they have been put between
glass slides to better protect their per-
fection. From them and because of
them she has learned of lands across
the sea and of their peoples. as well
as of incidents in our own American
history. They have colored her interest
IN pictures, in books and In the Ian
guages and customs of those who once
owned them.
Geography to 8-year-old Jean. now
pupil at the Cathedral School for
Girls. isn't just a book of colored
maps and dreary facts confined be-
tween the covers of a school volume.
but delightful pastime having to do
with where her dolls lived.
This enthusiasm is shared too, by
Jeans associates at her school. some
of whom heard at play when I was
visiting Jean and her dolls this past
week. Around Valentine day Miss
Turner, the headmistress of the girls
Cathedral school, has asked Jean to
bring her dolls to the school for a
special dolls day, so that all of the
pupils, and the faculty, too, may revel
to their feminine hearts content in
dolls from everywhere, with their
Interesting histories explained by their
small owner
Regular Guests Invited.
That pleasures must be shared if
they are to come to their fullest
fruition has been another one of the
wise convictions of Jeans parents. and
so along this very line several times
during the year children, and grown
ups, too. are asked to the Frantz home
to be the guests of Jean and her
dolls. For these special occasions
Jeans parents have designed gradu-
ated display platform in pyramid form,
with a special stand for each doll SO
that it may be seen to the very best
advantage without in any way taking
the limelight from its neighbors. At
these times Jean helps arrange her
American dolls at the bottom of the
pyramid as sort of hosts and hostesses
to the general assemblage.
I have never seen one of these
special exhibitions am hoping to
but as Just an afternoon visitor had
the feeling that I was in some sort
of dolls paradise. Actually many
of them look so like persons in
miniature that you have the feeling
that they must know what you are
saying about them.
AS I looked at first one and then
another, I thought to myself, Il
wonder if I we're the owner of this
very large family of dolls whether
the thrill of ownership would in any
wise dim itself with time?"
Unconsciously, my small hostess
answered this with her next remark:
ct believe you would like to see this
knitted doll from Bolivia. He isn't
very grand or very good-looking, but
every time I see her she interests me
more because I find I have learned
a little bit more about the country
from which she came And, while
I was revolving the altogether delight
full idea of becoming "better ac-
quainted" with a country through
the medium of a doll, I, too, fell cap