Dollhouse

“ The first impression as one entered the great hall was that not only all the dolls in Buffalo, but in all the towns in the vicinity, had accepted the invitation to be present. There were dolls everywhere. They hung from the balcony, and clung to the fronts of the boxes; they clustered in pyramids against the walls, and crowded the boughs of huge Christmas trees; they stood on tables, and filled the evergreen arches; and each one seemed to be doing her "sawdust best" to make this the finest doll show ever given.
A more democratic gathering of dolls could hardly be imagined. ”

“ In a dolls’ house it is sometimes awkward to have a doll or a piece of furniture that takes up nearly the whole of a room, and even in good ones it does not often happen that the rooms are big enough to accommodate many dolls, or more than a few pieces of furniture. But there was quite a lot of furniture in the rooms of Wooden’s house, and although they were all square, and of the same size, which gave them a certain [Pg 170] lack of variety, they would comfortably hold quite a large number of dolls. ”

“ No; such I have only contemplated from a respectful distance as I lay on my stall in the bazaar, while they towered sublime in the midst of the toys, the wonder and admiration of every passing child. I am not even one of those less magnificent, but still dignified, leathern-skinned individuals, requiring clothes to take off and put on, and a cradle to sleep in, with sheets, blankets, and every thing complete. Neither can I found my claim to notice upon any thing odd or unusual in my appearance: I am not a negro doll, with wide mouth and woolly hair ”

“ All little girls know what it is to wish that they could sometimes live in their own dolls’ houses, especially in the big ones, where there are staircases that they could go up and down if only they were of the right size, and all sorts of nice furniture, and dinner-sets and tea-sets, [Pg 71] and other things which they would like to use themselves and not always be making believe with. Well, in Dolltown, and in fact in the whole of Toyland, there was no making believe. Everything was as real as real, even the smallest things for the smallest dolls. ”

“ And as the sun rose and filled the world with light, the doors of Toy Town opened. The clerks came in to dust the different things and set them to rights, for it was the Christmas season and many people would come to buy.
“I wonder if some one will buy me,” softly murmured the Sawdust Doll.
[26] “Do you want them to?” asked the Candy Rabbit.
“Well, I suppose that is why I was put in Toy Town,” answered the Doll. “I want to do my duty, and make some little girl happy.”
“Yes, that’s what we’re for,” laughed the jolly Calico Clown. “It’s fun to make boys and girls happy. ”

“ It’s a good thing I brought my dolls’ portmanteau. Mother said: You’ll be glad to have it on rainy days. Of course I’m much too old to play with dolls, but even though I’m 11 I can make dolls’ clothes still. One learns something while one is doing it, and when I’ve finished something I do enjoy it so. Mother cut me out some things and I was tacking them together. Then Dora came into the room and said Hullo, the child is sewing things for her dolls. What cheek, as if she had never played with dolls. Besides, I don’t really play with dolls any longer. ”

“ It was bitterly cold here, but she did not seem to heed it; carefully she placed the candle so that it did not gutter in the draught, then, sinking on her knees beside them, she opened the topmost box.
Out of it with infinite care she took a large jointed doll, the waxen face beautifully modeled. It was the size of a child and was elegantly dressed in velvet and lace; Lady Dalrymple set it on the chair and smoothed out the collar with loving fingers.
In this uncertain light the doll had a ghastly semblance of humanity ”

“ Tell thy sad story.”
“Alas!” said the poor doll, who had only one eye, one arm and half a kid leg, “a little girl, who was a most careless mistress, let me fall so often that I was completely undone and my beauty destroyed.”
The doll bowed her head and the queen touched it with her golden wand, saying:—“Arise, my child, and be as perfect as thou should’st,” and immediately the doll, who had looked so badly before, arose whole and beautiful. She bowed low to the queen and left the throne.
Dorothy saw many beautiful dolls, waiting on the other side of the hall. ”

“ She rushed to the window and saw, drawing up in front, two omnibuses, one filled with the various mothers, the other with the little girls and their dollies. But what was this procession which followed?
“Oh, mamma! it’s all the dolls from the doll-house, and each has on a tiny [85] gossamer. How funny they look!” And so they did, each carrying an umbrella and paddling through the water. Mamma, Janie and Dollie followed them, and all jumped in the omnibuses, closed the doors with a bang, and away they went. ”

“ In the morning, as the children lay in bed, looking up, they could see the light through the chinks in the tiles; and when they went to bed in the evening, they could often feel the wind come down, and breathe its cool breath under their night-caps. Along the wall on one side of the room, farthest from the windows, the beds were laid upon the floor; the largest was for the poor, sprat-faced doll-maker and his wife; the next largest was for the two boys, and the smallest, up in the corner, [3] was for the little girl. ”

“ It was a rudimentary attempt at a rag doll; so rudimentary indeed that as the passing flash of the lamps disclosed its proportions, or rather the lack of them, a titter rose from the darkness behind, where some older folk were lounging.
The old doll-maker, who was attempting to thread a big packing-needle by the faint flicker, turned towards the sound in mild reproof: "Lo! brothers and sisters," he said, "have patience awhile. Even the Creator takes time to make His puppets, and this of mine will be as dolls are always when it is done. And a doll is a doll ever, nothing more, nothing less." ”

“ I thought I would write to you and ask you if you would come and live in my doll house. I have a nice doll house and it would make a very nice place for you to live in. I will cook good things for you to eat. You can play with my toys and I have a little toy horse that the Dunce can ride on.
“You can have a pan of water to swim in. I will make beautiful clothes for the Lady of Fashion. I will make cookies for you, and I will make candy too. ”

“ I had been accustomed hitherto to think myself not only very pretty, but one of the very nicest and best dolls that could possibly be. I had always understood that the celebrated Mr. Sprat, who had made me, was one of the very first doll-makers in England! The master of the doll-shop in Holborn, who had walked to and fro, like Napoleon Bonaparte in a brown paper cocked hat, had said so in my hearing, and I had believed it. I naturally considered myself a charming doll. ”

“ It is the true tragedy of every fallen son of Adam that he has grown too big to live in a doll's house. These things seem somehow to escape the irony of time by not even challenging it; they are too temporary even to be merely temporal. These people are not building tombs; they are not, as in the fine image of Mrs. Meynell's poem, merely building ruins. It is not easy to imagine the ruins of a doll's house; and that is why a doll's house is an everlasting habitation. How far it promises a political permanence is a matter for further discussion; I am only describing the mood of discovery ”

“ Dolly never knew what sort of a figure the third was; she could not see herself, and she never thought about it. Yet she was a foil to the other two, and they were a foil to her, as she sat there at the corner of the hearth on a low cushion, in her black dress, and with no ornament about her other than the cameo ring. A creature very different from the beauty at the other corner of the fireplace; more delicate, more sensitive, more spiritual; oddly and inexplicably, more of a child and more of a woman. ”

“ No doll in the world, and particularly a wooden doll, could have wished for anything softer. At the same place were also many articles of furniture, such as dolls of the higher class are accustomed to have, and some of these were bought for me. That which I was most pleased with was a doll’s wardrobe made of cedar wood, with drawers for clothes in the middle, and pegs to hang dresses upon at each side, and all enclosed with folding doors, and smelling so sweet. ”

“ The doll-interest implies a deep mysterious sympathy. Children wish their dolls to share in their things, to be kissed when they are kissed, and so to come close to them in experience and feeling. Not only so, they look for sympathy from their doll-companions, taking to them all their childish troubles. So far is this feeling of oneness carried in some cases that the passion for dolls has actually rendered the child indifferent to child-companions. It is not every little girl who like little Maggie Tulliver has only "occasional fits of fondness" for her nursling when the brother is absent. ”

“ Sobbing no longer, she carefully wrapped the doll in the same paper and piece of silk that had held it for so many years. As she arose, holding the parcel in her hand, the pink dress and black silk apron on her lap fell to the floor.
A sudden thought came to her. Dorry never could remain sad very long at a time. She hastily opened the parcel again.
"Lie down there, Delia dear," she said, gently placing the doll on the rose-buds of the still open trunk-lid. "Lie down there, till I put on these things. I'm going to take you down to see your uncle!" ”

“ It was in vain that Blanche told her that a new doll would be as dear as the old one, the little girl refused to play, and her cherub face looked very sad, the dimples failing to show, because the smiles would not appear.
"That bad boy, Gyp, has took it," she wailed.
"Oh, Dollie, he might take a kite, or a ball from Harry, and Rob, but he wouldn't want a doll! Just think! What would HE do with a doll?" ”

“ On the stall are baby dolls with bodies made of grey cardboard, smiling after the manner of idols, monstrous and serene as they. Little six-penny dolls, dressed like servant girls, stretch out their arms, little stumpy arms so flimsy that the least breath of air sets them a-tremble. But the little maid whose hair is made of liquid light, has no eyes for these dolls and puppets. Her whole soul hangs upon the lips of a beautiful baby doll that seems to be calling her his mummy. He is hitched on to one of the poles of the booth all by himself. He dominates, he effaces everything else. ”

“ I buy a doll to play with when I have time, and I can call it what I please, and smash its head when I'm tired of it. It's my doll. It isn't any one's else's. The Towers is in Derbyshire if you want to come.'
Margaret did not 'want to come' to Torp Towers, even if the doll wasn't 'any one's else's.' She was sorry for any person or thing that had the misfortune to be Mr. Van Torp's doll, and she felt her inexplicable fear of him coming upon her while he was speaking. ”

“ After considerable hard thinking, a "bauble shop," a postcard booth, and a doll shop were added. The latter idea was Ruth Denton's. "Now that it is fall, Christmas isn't so very far off. Almost every girl has a little sister or a niece or a friend to whom she intends to give a doll," she said almost wistfully. "We could pledge ourselves to contribute one doll at least, and as many more as we please. Then we could draw on the treasury for a certain sum and invest it in dolls. We could dress a few of them as college girls, too. ”

“ Dorothy felt herself becoming hard and rigid in every joint. The stranger had turned little Dorothy into a wax doll. At first she thought it rather nice to be a doll, but when she tried to stand and found that she could not she did not like it very well. She had also grown very much smaller, and was not any larger than one of her own dolls, but she knew everything that was going on around her. The strange doll, who had done such a wonderful thing to Dorothy, began to79 skip around the room and laugh and sing. She didn’t seem to be a doll any longer, but was just like a little girl. ”

“ In a large, dusky room, at the top of a dusky house in one of the dusky streets of High Holborn, there lived a poor doll-maker, whose name was Sprat. He was an extremely small man for his age, and not altogether unlike a sprat in the face. He was always dressed in a sort of tight [2] pinafore and trousers, all in one, that fitted close to his body; and this dress was nearly covered with dabs of paint, especially white paint, of which he used most in his work. ”

“ But the child has had its hour of play and make-believe sentiment of companionship and authority; and so, if the doll can do no good of itself, it can at least be the occasion of pleasantness to others.
Now there are women who are dolls in all but the mere accident of material. The doll proper is a simple structure of wax or wood, 'its knees and elbows glued together;' and the human doll is a complex machine of flesh and blood. ”

“ Fig. 423.—First pasteboard box for doll house.
COUNTRY houses are very attractive, even the toy ones possess a certain charm. Here is a great, big, beautiful, country doll house for the doll people to live in. It has window shutters to open and close, doors that will open and shut, and the doors have little door knobs like real ones. Each room has a different, colored frieze around the walls, and the floor of the living-room is covered with a handsome rug. ”