Show t r Historians f m Record Use of Dolls in Earliest Days of History Customs Date to Antiquity The use of dolls dolls dolls-as as playthings ornaments and symbols of religion and mysticism mysticism dates dates back to antiquity Historians have failed to un un- unearth unearth un- un unearth earth any period in which there were no dolls Early Oriental myth myth- mythology mythology mythology abounds with stories of gayly- gayly decorated figures used in religious rites observes a writer in the De De- Detroit Detroit troit News In the Orange Free State in Af At Africa rica a girl receives a doll when she reaches maturity and keeps it until she has a child of her own Egyptians Egyptians Egyptians throw a size life doll in the Nile when it rises each year Chi Chi- Chinese Chinese nese mothers hang a doll in front of the house when a child is ill Syr Syr- Syrian Syrian Syrian ian maidens place a n doll in the win win- window window dow to notify young blades of the village that they are ready and will will- willing willing ing trig to take a husband In Japan the annual Feast of the Dolls is a agay agay gay and impressive ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of chil chil- children children dren and ups grown-ups participate Psychologists say dolls dolIs are useful not only to amuse but to educate and to develop imagination and the parental instinct in children Dolls they say are helpful to little boys as well as girls and any boy under six BIX years old need not fear being called a sissy if he loves and plays with dolls Dolls of dwellers cave were crude crude- crudely ly Iy fashioned of ot mud stones or bits of wood Archeologists have found them in the earliest primitive dwellings dwell dwell- dwellings ings often lying by the side of the remains of children Through the centuries dolls doUs have taken better form Corm European craftsmen of the Middle ages developed great skill In making dolls from wax Later La ter dolls were made of plaster easily breakable Today dolls doUs are made of a wide variety of materials m te |