The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 24, 1899, Page 6

THE HE SBORY OF ACC THE DOCCIES IN THE WORED Odd Lives Some of Them Lead and Curious Customs Jhey jffave ful veloci'g it is impossible for any [.-u‘:\mer I make headway against it; so the vessels are compell to time them- selves in reachin is spot in order that they may have a safe passage through - pleture aw inside out an the wa There 1s a story told that some years Wi I v ‘azn a certain tted States gunboat had seen pa u . ;rom‘hed these narrows at the dangerous stated had tur eriod of the tide, and when the pilot n charge hesitated about taking th passage he was instructed by the captal that a “United States man-of-war could | 8o any place” and to ‘'steam ahe She steamed ahead and did go some place. She went to the bottom, and her b are at gn‘s"n( 1ying there as a result of his fool- ardiness. Ir the wider parts of this inland passage we encountered so many whales and por- | poises playing about the ship that they | 8oon m‘n!,vé to attract attention. We were into the | told that on the trip ‘ir diately preced- Upon our arr | ing this one the ste 4 , on which were told that tw we were, struck a whale so hard ti ter, there Is a time | an | cut half through it and the lev duration when a boat ma neces- sary for the sailors to go down with axes and chop 1t in two before the boat could proceed. A curious feature of the landscape that stuck fast to her bow, making it e gy o but s presented itsel great timber c aming through (his as An appearar at the water’'s edg if the country w entirely fenced in with an ordinary ra fence, when we knew there were no fe within hundreds of miles. This appear- ance is caused by great trees falling into the water and being buffeted about until stripped of their bark by the action of the water, they are finally thrown upon the beach, where they li¢ In such pro- fuslon bleaching in the sun that they take on the appearance of fence rails, and thus produce the illusion referred to. The first sight we had of the natives except here and there an occasional canoe slipping along under shelter of the land, was on turning a bend of the strea about three days out from the Sound. 1\ came upon a comfortable looking village of wooden cottage lled Bella Bell counted seventy houses, all properly ed and comfortable lookir ago the was back Ancor es bottom f th mer many-col they looked cleaner, while on the outskirts stood a collection of the ever present to- tem poles, We at last landed from the steamer at a funny little semi-circular-shaped Indian village named Lo call It, Naha. Tt is | the fishing industry, the Alaska C: | clal Company having a large there. The fish are caught by the who appear to be very thrifty = tract with-the cannery annually to them with fish, while the squaw dren work in the various packi The natives are extremely | and exact the privilege of r: one's outfit and belongin to be prompted stmply I osity and r ve a reputation white settlers of being abs rudely made puppets, but the first real dolls of that country were imported from | Holland, and were called Flanders bables. They were wooden of soul and body, with the most stupid of faces. Their only in- terest seemed to be In dress, and they | were as gaudy as other ill-bred people. Our first dolls were brought from Eng- land In coloni: well untll we f One industrious native ha. own or buy still finer ones in F T ek T on e T it wiich old-fashioned dolls were made of two | many hands and supplies th pleces of kid cut to proper shape, sewed | villages that are rapldly o together and stuffed with sawdust. They | lumber. Another native . were dressed in the fashionable hoop- | $hop and is a skilled work ~ skirts and brocaded silks of the period, | US that he learned his tr ernm and the handsomest were sold for £1 in| gets out his barre a New England shops. and spends the summer in u i In all the civilized countries of the | for which he has a contra ’ [ whole world German and French dolls are | REEY f"r“fl}ll}:‘% an f now found. They are dressed according to | {HPR A 2l Y51t il with fish the fashion of the place where they live, | not saem altogeiher e line out aad be! are nearly all from the same land. | Many of the native Aouse of canves. W A ¢ become lzed early. Thus, the | having been t et irast Reok (o Ihe 48 e / doll from Cairo is as haughty and showily | much envied b ) - i T b dressed as are the wealthy people there, | 39 fortunate a f the fish h ugh the doll itself came from Ger- | Alaskan nat! ; this two of us ook from In the same¢ way a doll sent to | to acknowledge t i PO o = n grew sober and finally became a de- | is being do: e T i ] vout monk If you should travel through the Ger- | ages you would find women and en at work in their homes making of dolls. Some carve the heads and After in: were pr with which t an arm of the bodies, others make legs and arms, ot tain waterfall, At of the latt fit and sew dresses. All these articles | walk u.rl,\lu.‘x .l;.l‘ t v ; o d r and i 6 oy deal. | We would fnd anot at, in whic B oh PP S IR CIOEN, NILT LTIy - o directed, and upon turning a bend in th e heas them put together in factories. But the e i I Siatun F 1r bea ke p t . ; C H. RICHARDS( best dolls re made entirely in great fac- torfes—those of and bis papler mache—ar wax hu! que and er in height ored to th are turned out « boat as dfre: alone. The heads & many r the midle molds, which have different features and | landed and w exprossions—as many molds as there | thereon salm A ' et ¥ at for you ki r ¥ elr owr - en are nev At € If some ve ers, one really cc e & with them for knowing n S have discover ere brown peo- take good care of these all her life, play- ing with them gently while she s little are m to represent ¢ 1l re Mstory and mythology, and &nd taking them to her new home when en are supposed to learn about She marries and passing them down to ¥ t ers while playing with their the next generation when she dles. by and by Xing Charles heard of It In en there was nothing but a mean This seems impossible to us, but the some roundabout way and sent for the d grown-up folk to a precise, neat and w peddler to come to his court. Kings have 1 into school, and if the mannered race, who could no more play €0 many amusements that they are always ane up and demand roughly than their own dolls. So Jt comes tired of everything and looking about for — people had the Trix th )t to be blamed. Let about at every family has a great fomething new. When Charles saw the — 2 Y Tk b ar-coated pills for us! n of hina handed down from al- exhibition he was delighted, “‘and,” quoth A n the N ns In the shape of dolis!” sotten grandmothers, as well as he, “I must have a doll of my own at - » Sl LR that are added nmow and once.” o he took one that represented «APANESE BAB an especlally pretty young lady of the nobility and tossed the peddler a chink- are odd affalrs, way they are not but andled every day on some re means, by any carved from wood whittled from e that the far- African youngsters love and cher- Allad ucse savages have rather t she cannot move at d is put on oved. This us in playing guillo- Indians n cribes a wedding proces- through the streets of Dacca, which celebrated marriage of two dolls ldren and ol¢ people were present, e ceremon to m; i st was given the bride. Rich merry, and the ittered several thousands of ru- native money, for beggars to re Was a great s amble, d such fun for every- plaved and people laughed and the dolls lool very see these little wooden fig- es are reg: ed as sacred, and they e even given a room to themselves in every house. “Hima" 1s the word for “dolls” in Japan, and each year the Japanese cele- brate what they call the “Hina Matsuri,” or “Feast of Dolls.” The hina are not broken or torn or allowed to leak saw- dust as, alas, American dolls too often are. When a girl is born, her father buys bher two hina at a shop, and she must invited, as ours are at Christmas, and a table of good things is spread before them. They are told that they may look but not taste, because the feast is for the dolls. All the house's hina are brought to the table and invited to eat, but, poor things, they can't. So they sit up and try not to look bored, but they never taste a crumb. After awhile bed- time comes and they and the children are bundled off to bed, and then what do you think happens? Well, the big people are left all alone with the feast and it is very | tempting and so they just eat every speck | of it clear through dessert. | In these days France makes the finest dolls in the world, but France was taught in the first place by Italy. In the reign of Charles VI an Italian peddler came to France bringing ninety-six puppets— images, they were, of Empresses and noble ladies known throughout Europe. The maker had obtained coins from v. rious countries and studied the images of | these people which he found stamped on | the coins. At first he traveled among the French | peasants showing his dolls and earning | a small living in that way. The people | were {nterested in the odd collection, and | | They a: became the fashion in France, and thelir manufacture bhegan and has increased and improved through all these years. The earliest people of Great Britain had " Indian dolls are i bamboo shelf to await ions. ing piece of good money. ‘“‘Here's a b wn « ¢ a bat important of these occasions MONth's lodging,” “thought the peddler 't wood and » mentioned. It occurs in April, Joyfully. = 7 hec SeRcH (ves Bonghs ava A TNk We must have dolls if the King does,” are kinds of faces. The dolls are stuffed s Is very conveni sticks of wintergreen candy. The whispered the court. with sawdust, if they are good; hay it a bother a flopp) ch blossoms are brought into the And thercupon ninety-five distinguished they are naughty enough to cry, for in r to stand to recite or house for decoration and howers of them PETSORS bought out the peddler, and he that case the sawdust would get into the worst thing about this are made. All the cousins and aunts are 'etired, to live happy ever after. Dolls crier and stop it. What effect do you suppose a dose of sawdust would have upon Annie when her balloon slips loose, or upen Johnnie when he cuts his finger? Perhaps it might stop thelr criers, too. BITS OF ALASKAN LIFE AND SCENERY INCE the discovery of the Klondike gold fields so much has been sald about gold that people are prone to lose sight of everything Alaskan except that glittering metal, and consequently have been told little about the wonderful natural phenomena there. oclate everything in Alaska with gold, icebergs and Eskimos. During a recent vacation spent in that interesting country I saw none of the three above mentioned. In lleu thereof, however, we—that 1s, my “pardner” and 1 (every one in Alaska has a ‘‘pardner,” you know)—saw things which at least in a measure compensated for their loss. When the fog lifted on the Sound on the morning of our arrival at Victorla we caught our first glimpe of the marvelous supply of timber with which the moun- tains are covered, and for days as we traveled through the “inside passage” there was no apparent diminution of these vast forests. On we went, u thmxsh a magnificent body of water which had the appearance of a beautiful river, and again would wid- en out to a bay, with thousands of islands dotting the surface whereversold Mother Nature in her prodigality had seen fit to place them. We passed up through the Seymour Narrows, where the mountains close in on either side, making the channel very nar- row, through which at a certain time of the tide the current runs with such fright- |