Show Dolls Of Or I Yesteryear by I Frances Grinstead FIVE WENTY-FIVE years ago a little litHe littie lit- lit T TWENTY FIVE He tle girls girl's letter to Santa Claus went something like this Dear Santa Please bring me rae a new head for my dolly doily Her name is Christina She still has a nice body but her head has so many dents It wont won't last another year I would like one this time with real hair made Into curls and eyes that open and shut Your trusting friend I What has become of those ChrIstmas Christmas Christ ChrIst- mas dolls doUs whose bodies could outlast outlast outlast out out- last half halt a dozen heads When the curls went straight or the wig c 9 Mother Took the Little Girl to See Seethe Seethe Seethe the Dolls dropped oft off or little brother Johnnie picked the wax off the eyelids and sister was consoled by promising her a new head Mother took her herto to a department store where there was as large a display of ot doll heads as of ot dolls There were china heads metal heads and heads of ot papier- papier mache There were heads with wigs and some without There were those with parted lips and dainty teeth showing while others hid their smiles behind firm mouths and starIng star star- Ing lag eyes One thing these varied heads had hadIn hadin hadin in common Their necks wi widened ened Into square four-square bibs front and back backwith backwith backwith with holes at the corners for applyIng applyIng apply apply- ing the needle to the old body The bodies in those days were of cloth their inner substance sawdust Where now nosy are those torsos that could withstand endless repairing fresh sawdust and new Dew heads They probably found their way to the attic in time and sister was promised a whole new Dew doll Then her trip to the department store was a matter of deciding between a dressed and an undressed dolly Mothers preferred the latter because they would bear closer inspection inspection in in- as to materials and md work work- manship Dollys Dolly's clothes were easily easily easily ily made out of the family scrap bag or by the willing hands of ot the family seamstress who did the job for rec rec- rec- rec Moreover the undressed doll cost a little less But sister liked to linger over those in silks and satins with poke bonnets and plumes covering their golden curls curb They wore petticoats and often they held their fragile fingers in tiny muffs of ot mink and sable Western Newspaper Union o 0 02 2 g. g fj- fj j |