Old dolls are among the things that are taking on new values in this day and generation. Battered and bruised almost beyond recognition, various dolls that were once fondled affectionately, loved beyond their deserts, have been brought from that limbo to which are relegated forgotten and disused things and restored to as much of their pristine beauty as possible.
They are respected and revered for their great age like women who have reached that period of life when they prefer to add a few years to their age rather than to subtract them as they did when younger.
That queens were not above playing with dolls, even when they were quite grown, we have abundant evidence.
"Mary Stuart brought with her to Scotland from Paris lovely French dolls, which she set apart for
ornament rather than use, but her chief delight was in the dolls she and her Marys had made and dressed." The beautiful queen was devoted to her family of dolls, not only during her childhood in France, but later, when she went, a young and lovely widow, to Scotland. She is reported to have spent much time with her dolls, perhaps to distract her mind from the machinations of her nobles who
wished to rule Scotland in her stead. When she had leisure she would gather her Marys together and set them to work with her making rag dolls, and little beds and bedding fashioned like her own. Queen Mary took upon herself the making of the small sheets and bolster covers for the beds, and while they sewed they would discourse lovingly of France and the pleasant life they had left behind them.
Queen Elizabeth had a great passion for dolls in her youth, and among the collection she left was a very curious specimen of the doll-maker's art, composed entirely of the bark of trees, so artistically pieced together that only a close inspection revealed the fact that the whole was not carved out of one solid piece of mahogany. This doll, which was reputed to have been in existence more than two centuries previous to coming into the young princess' nursery, was clothed in such a variety of beautiful garments that her juvenile highness always had the assistance of a maid to dress and undress her favorite plaything.
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| Hindu dolls. The weaving of these costumes is extremely beautiful, and reminds one of some antique tapestry. |
Another strange doll with which the Queen's childhood was associated was one from Spain. It was almost life-size, and dressed in clothes said to have been made by the highest ladies of the land, although, as the author of " Things Quaint and Curious" remarks, "the stitching of the various garments was not above reproach, a blemish, however, which was fully recompensed by the magnificence of the cloth used."
A wonderland doll was possessed by the Duchess of Kinloch, who lived prior to the Reformation. It was made of the wood of the fir tree, and so ingeniously constructed that by the mere pressing of either of its eyes it would open its mouth, yawn, laugh, and make an expression as if in pain. Not only would it do all this, but it could be made to move its legs, as if walking at a rapid rate. The hair used was human, and once adorned the head of a wealthy and titled lady, who lost her life for the sake of her religion.
French as well as English queens were fond of dolls, even after they had grown up. In the year 1493, Anna of Brittany sent to Queen Isabella of Castile, who was forty-three years old, a large poupee, probably for the purpose of showing her the fine fashions that were in vogue at the Court of France.
The record of some extremely costly dolls that were manufactured in the seventeenth century has come down to us intact. Louis d'Epernon, who gave up a bishopric in order to become a soldier, spent several hundred dollars on a doll for little Mile, de Bourbon, who later acquired distinction as the Duchesse de Longueville. We have a full description of this costly doll, and it is gratifying to learn that the kindhearted giver obtained for his money, in addition to the doll, a complete sleeping apartment for the little lady, in which were a bed, furniture, several handsome gowns and all necessary underwear. One wonders whether the Duchess of Orleans fared as well as this when in 1722, she gave several thousand dollars for a superb doll, which she presented to the little Queen.
In the art of manufacturing and dressing dolls, the French excelled at that time, and more than one chronicler assures us that they were accustomed to send several of their handsomest and best dressed dolls to foreign countries in order that the people there might clearly see the superiority of French fashions.
According to the newspapers, the oldest doll in America lives in Montgomery County, Maryland. She was brought to this country by William Penn, in 1699. His daughter, Letitia, selected the doll as a gift for a little Miss Rankin of Philadelphia. The children of the Quakers of those days took good care of their playthings, and although the doll was the cherished companion of several generations of little Quakeresses, she is still in good condition, wearing the grand court dress in which she came to this country.
Polly Sumner is another doll to be admired and respected for her great age; she was born in England and came to this country in 1773, and has nearly a century and a quarter to her credit. She was placed for sale in a Boston shop and was bought by pretty Polly Sumner who was then a bride. She was splendidly arrayed in an English court dress of the period, and wore a gown of rich brocade over a large hoop, had pearl beads around her neck and on her head was set a jaunty cap with curling ostrich feathers. She is made of good English oak, is still sound in every joint and likely
to last for a long time.
After having been lost to sight for a generation or two, she was brought out and dressed in Quaker garb, and later found a place in the old Church Museum. She is now owned by Mrs. Mary Langley, who prizes her very highly.
Another old doll is the property of Mrs. Otis H. Brown of 86 Oak Street, South Weymouth, Mass. She bears the name of Mehitable Hodges, and is known to be 184 years old. She was brought from France to Salem in 1724, by Captain Gamaliel Hodges, for his little daughter. Mrs. Brown is a descendant of Captain Hodges and inherited the doll.
The doll is arrayed in her original costume of pink silk, fashioned after the style of Louis XIV., and is perfect in every detail, the silk even retaining its color after a lapse of nearly two centuries.
Mehitable Hodges has traveled a good deal and has been on exhibition and taken first prize at doll shows, besides many church fairs and charity exhibits in New England. This doll was exhibited to the public for the last time at a recent doll show in South Weymouth, and is now safely cased and blanketed and shown only to visitors at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brown.
During the war between the North and South, in the United States, many a precious article was conveyed through the lines inside a doll's body. Not even the soldier on guard had the heart to deprive a child of its most valued and apparently harmless toy, by confiscating a doll, but presently the trick was discovered and no more dolls were allowed to pass through the lines. Quinine, morphine and other drugs as well as war dispatches were conveyed in this manner and the families to whom these dolls were sent treasured them beyond belief. A Mississippi family has a small colony of dolls which brought cotton seed from Mexico at that time, and the whole Natchez district is still growing cotton from that seed.
Another doll not so old but one that has historic interest, is owned by Mrs. William Wallace of Morristown, N. J. It was once the property of Hannah Marcelles, to whom General Lafayette gave it in exchange for a kiss. It is a flat-faced little baby with abnormally red cheeks and a sharp nose. It wears a silk gown and a Napoleon hat; across its breast are the figures 1797.
A doll that has a very short, though interesting history, is one owned by the young daughter of Frederick Eles of Lansdale, Pa. Its curly locks once grew on the head of the child's own father. The hair was made into a beautiful wig which can be put on and off, and is the envy of the girls in the vicinity of her home.
A colored doll (African American), one with an interesting history, is owned by the Lincoln family of Massachusetts. Her name is Georgia and she has more than a hundred years to her credit. She is beaten and battered almost beyond recognition, but after all has stood the stress of generations remarkably well.
She had been packed away as a valuable heirloom for forty years, when about three years ago she was once more brought to the front and established as one of the large family of dolls belonging to the present generation. She takes the place of honor as her right and is really respected and revered by the twentieth century little ones who call her dear great grandmamma.
Mrs. Carlyle's doll with its pathetic ending is historic surely. She tells us that when she was a young girl, she had a beautiful doll and was very fond of it and played with it until the governess came and made her study Latin. Then she began to think she was too much of a young lady to play with dolls, and so she decided she would have her doll die as Dido did on a funeral pyre. She set the little four-post bedstead in the garden and with lead pencils, sticks of cinnamon and a nutmeg built the pyre. After having put the doll on the bed she emptied a whole bottle of perfume over her and set fire to her. When she saw the poor dolly burning she was sorry and screamed and tried to save her, but she was too late, her dolly burned and she never had any other doll.
Of course the collections of Queens Victoria and Wilhelmina are historic, but as they are described in another chapter, they need only be referred to here.
In the Journal of Jean Hersard, mention is made of several beautiful dolls in a coach offered by Sully to Louis XIII. when he was a child. Louis XIV. played with dolls as well as soldiers.
Cardinal Richelieu gave to Madame d'Enghein a miniature room with six doll people in it. Miles, de Ramnonillel and de Banlenlle played with them, dressing and undressing them, feeding and physicking them to their heart's content. The room was a Louis XIII. interior; the costumes, head-dresses, nurse's uniform, osier cradle, were identical to the period.
The three dolls sent by Felix Faure to the three little grand duchesses of Russia not long ago, will in time become objects of great historic interest. One has a phonograph inside her so arranged as to say: "Good morning, dear mamma, did you sleep well?" This must have been of wonderful interest even to a mite of a grand duchess.
Another had four costumes representing Normandy, Arlesienne, Bearnaise and Breton peasants.
The third was that of a debutante dressed for her first soiree; a second costume reproduced the exact dress worn by a young lady at the Trianon Fete last year; the third was a most fetching costume for a yachtswoman. All were as dainty and expensive as real lace and jewels could make them. The cost of fashioning and dressing one of these little ladies was between six and seven hundred dollars, each head-dress alone costing fifty dollars.
These fortunate dolls took with them twenty trunks filled with Paris clothes. So important was the gift, a titled secretary of embassy was delegated to travel with the dolls and look after their belongings.
History tells us that when Maximilian made his entry into Augsberg in the year 1504, the little four-year-old daughter of the Syndic Peutinger addressed the Emperor in Latin verse. Maximilian was so surprised and pleased with the infant prodigy that he told her he would give her whatever she would like most to have. The Emperor undoubtedly imagined she would ask for a new book or a jewel, perhaps. His surprise must have been great when the child blushed and said she would like to have a doll. It is needless to say that she was the recipient of the finest and most costly one that Maximilian could buy.
In "Child Life in Colonial Days," Alice Morse Earle writes of various sorts of dolls that gladdened the hearts of Colonial children. She says: "The best dolls in England were originally sold at Bartholomew Fair and were known as 'Bartholomew Babies.'"
In "Poor Robin's Almanack," 1695, is a reference to a Bartholomew baby tricked up with ribbons and knots; and they were known at the time of the landing of the Pilgrims. Therefore it is not impossible that some Winthrop or Winslow maid, some little miss of Bradford or Brewster birth, brought across seas a Bartholomew baby and was comforted by it.
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| Dolls in Deerfield Memorial Hall. The child has gone, but her doll's "remnants" remain. |
In the collection at Deerfield Memorial Hall is a doll so beaten and battered that it has little resemblance to either ancient or modern dolls. It is named Bangwell Putt and for nearly a century was the beloved companion of a blind girl, Clarissa Field, who lived in Northfield, Mass. At her death, some curious, crude attempts at versification were found pinned to the doll's clothing, which lent an unusual interest to the shapeless little creature. From the legend attached to the doll, it seems to have been as cherished a companion of the blind woman in her old age as in her youth.
The descendants of John Quincy Adams treasure a shapely rag doll who spent the days of her youth with the children of the President in the White House at Washington.
A lady in New York owns a doll of great historic interest; a small, wooden- jointed doll that was bought by one of her ancestors from Hepzibah Pincheon when she opened her penny-shop in the House of Seven Gables in Salem. "Wooden Milkmaids," Hawthorne called these dolls.
A doll owned and loved by that beautiful daughter of the Confederacy, Winnie Davis, has a place of honor in the Confederate Museum, Richmond, Va.
A few years ago there was still in the Falconiere Palace in Rome some dolls that had once belonged to Elisa Bonaparte. Letitia Bonaparte, mother of the great Napoleon, lived in this palace for
many years. After her death, there was found an old wardrobe where she had kept the toys that had amused her children in Corsica. Among them were several dolls that had cheered the heart of Elisa, and Joseph, too, for it is somewhere recorded that Joseph used to take Madame Mere's old silk dresses to make beds for his sister's dolls.
A celebrated historic doll is one representing the Duke de Berry, who was assassinated by Laurel. The wig is made from the Duke's own hair; the legend attached to it declares that the doll was once the cherished possession of the Comte de Chambord.
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